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Revision to reflect its 'expanded mission' Congress set out to modernize the mission of the Nevada Test Site and eventually change the name it's had for the past 57 years with Senate passage Tuesday of the defense authorization bill. The 93-7 vote sent the measure to President Barack Obama with an amendment by Nevada's senators that charges the head of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration with "renaming the site to reflect the expanded mission." That "expanded mission," according to the amendment by Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., will focus on developing methods to verify treaties and reduce nuclear security threats "while continuing to support the nation's nuclear weapons program and other national security programs."

Revision to reflect its 'expanded mission' Congress set out to modernize the mission of the Nevada Test Site and eventually change the name it's had for the past 57 years with Senate passage Tuesday of the defense authorization bill. The 93-7 vote sent the measure to President Barack Obama with an amendment by Nevada's senators that charges the head of the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration with "renaming the site to reflect the expanded mission." That "expanded mission," according to the amendment by Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., will focus on developing methods to verify treaties and reduce nuclear security threats "while continuing to support the nation's nuclear weapons program and other national security programs."

It's been more than half a year since work stopped on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, after it was hit by the capricious winds of politics. President Barack Obama halted the project at the urging of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is up for re-election in Nevada. Yet money continues to flow into a government trust fund that Congress created in 1982 to pay for the waste repository.

It's been more than half a year since work stopped on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, after it was hit by the capricious winds of politics. President Barack Obama halted the project at the urging of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is up for re-election in Nevada. Yet money continues to flow into a government trust fund that Congress created in 1982 to pay for the waste repository.

Energy Department still needs to abandon license application Nevada has been fighting for more than 20 years efforts by the federal government to build a dump for the nation's high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, a mere 90 miles northwest of the heavily populated Las Vegas Valley. Despite the clout of the nuclear power industry, things have begun to go Nevada's way. Thanks to the efforts of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and the actions of the Obama administration, funding for the ill-conceived project is drying up. The only major hurdle that remains is to have the Energy Department withdraw its license application before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a permanent Yucca dump. It is only after that application is abandoned for good that Nevadans can truly rejoice.

Energy Department still needs to abandon license application Nevada has been fighting for more than 20 years efforts by the federal government to build a dump for the nation's high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, a mere 90 miles northwest of the heavily populated Las Vegas Valley. Despite the clout of the nuclear power industry, things have begun to go Nevada's way. Thanks to the efforts of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and the actions of the Obama administration, funding for the ill-conceived project is drying up. The only major hurdle that remains is to have the Energy Department withdraw its license application before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a permanent Yucca dump. It is only after that application is abandoned for good that Nevadans can truly rejoice.

Sen. Harry Reid says the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is changing position to support a key measure for compensating sick former Nevada Test Site workers. Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday the next step is for the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health to approve the NIOSH "special cohort status" recommendation next month. The designation lets case evaluators attribute illnesses to work at the nation's nuclear proving ground north of Las Vegas without a cumbersome government "dose reconstruction" process. Former workers complain sick colleagues are dying while the government slowly processes claims for medical benefits and $150,000 payments under a program created by Congress in 2001. NIOSH has estimated about 500 of workers from the years of underground nuclear tests, 1963 to 1992, could qualify.

Sen. Harry Reid says the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is changing position to support a key measure for compensating sick former Nevada Test Site workers. Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday the next step is for the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health to approve the NIOSH "special cohort status" recommendation next month. The designation lets case evaluators attribute illnesses to work at the nation's nuclear proving ground north of Las Vegas without a cumbersome government "dose reconstruction" process. Former workers complain sick colleagues are dying while the government slowly processes claims for medical benefits and $150,000 payments under a program created by Congress in 2001. NIOSH has estimated about 500 of workers from the years of underground nuclear tests, 1963 to 1992, could qualify.

Talk about lessening the world's dependence on greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels, and increasingly, nuclear power comes up. Now if only the world could figure out what to do with all those spent fuel rods. The proposed national nuclear waste repository in Nevada's Yucca Mountain seems a long-shot as long as Sen. Harry Reid, of Senate Majority Leader fame, remains a force to be reckoned with in Nevada and Democratic politics.

Talk about lessening the world's dependence on greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels, and increasingly, nuclear power comes up. Now if only the world could figure out what to do with all those spent fuel rods. The proposed national nuclear waste repository in Nevada's Yucca Mountain seems a long-shot as long as Sen. Harry Reid, of Senate Majority Leader fame, remains a force to be reckoned with in Nevada and Democratic politics.

He warns against gutting the state agency fighting the nuclear repository By all accounts, the plan to put a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain is all but dead. The new president has said it is not safe to bury radioactive material 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has chipped away its funding for years, has vowed to zero out its budget this year. And the state has filed more than 200 legal objections to the long-overdue application to license the repository.

Nuclear power station operators unlawfully allowed radioactive waste to seep from a decontamination unit for 14 years, Chelmsford Crown Court has heard. A report in The Independent says the waste leaked into the ground from a sump at Bradwell power station in Essex between 1990 and 2004, the Environment Agency claimed. Magnox Electric Ltd, which had operated the station, denies 11 breaches of legislation governing the disposal of radioactive waste. Mark Harris, on behalf of the Environment Agency, told the jury that leaks were caused by a combination of poor design and a lack of checks and maintenance. He said the power station was no longer running. Full report in The Independent

The bleeding might soon begin. A few weeks after Sen. Harry Reid declared that the Yucca Mountain project was going to "bleed real hard" in the coming year, he said Monday the already reduced budget for the controversial nuclear waste plan will be cut "significantly" for the remainder of 2009, and that a 2010 White House spending request will contain "little if anything at all." The Nevada Democrat made the declaration after he brought up Yucca Mountain in a meeting with President-elect Barack Obama earlier in the day. The two have spoken about the project on several occasions since the election. After Monday's meeting, Reid said Obama reiterated his opposition to the project that he had campaigned against during the presidential race.

Both U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Congressman Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., took the occasion of a Surface Transportation Board hearing here to fire a few shots over toward the Department of Energy. Berkley essentually said Bush administration plans to build a $3 billion railroad in Nevadas to haul nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain should be rejected. "Nevadans oppose this $3 billion 'Railroad to Nowhere,'" said Berkley, "and we recognize the dangers thatb will accompany decades of toxic nuclear waste shipments to Yucca Mountain."

The potent combination of President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid bodes well for Nevadans, the majority of whom don't want the nation's high-level nuclear waste dumped in this state. Both men have vowed to do everything in their power to see that a dump is never built at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. But until it is certain the dump plan is dead, Nevada has an obligation to its residents to continue fighting, through its Nuclear Projects Agency, the nuclear power industry-backed proposal. Because of the highly complex nature of the issue, it takes a fully staffed office to help research and prepare the state's arguments against a Yucca repository, which is under licensing review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that the new president will essentially zero-out funding for Yucca Mountain when he releases the fiscal 2010 budget to Congress after taking office. President-elect Barack Obama's transition office declined this week to discuss budget plans beyond Obama's previously-stated opposition to the nuclear waste dump. But Obama told Reid during last week's sit-down meeting in the Capitol that the budget would be zero, or close to it, the senator's office said.

Barack Obama pledged during his campaign to oppose the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. Today, as his nominee for energy secretary, Steven Chu, goes to the Senate for his confirmation hearing, he is expected to begin elaborating on the future of the project. Opponents of the dump, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, expect this is the beginning of the end for Yucca Mountain. "Barack Obama will get rid of Yucca Mountain," Reid said last month in an interview with the Sun.

Earlier this week, Senate leader Harry Reid presented Barack Obama with what might just be the first ultimatum of his presidency. Speaking to reporters, the Nevada Democrat lavished praise upon the incoming president - then announced that he'd work to block the appointment of any Energy Secretary who backed the construction of a controversial national nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain, a rocky bluff a few dozen miles from Las Vegas. On the face of it, that's not such a big deal. As Reid pointed out, on the campaign trail Obama opposed the Yucca Mountain project and told Nevadan voters that he'd prefer to store radioactive waste on-site at power plants until a long-term solution could be found. Reid is clearly hoping that Obama will be happy to let the issue slide, allowing Yucca Mountain to die quietly rather than risking an ugly internal showdown before he's even taken office.

Nevada Senator Harry Reid today submitted testimony to a Surface Transportation Board (STB) hearing on the U.S. Department of Energy's Application for Rail Construction and Operation - Caliente Rail Line in Lincoln, Nye and Esmeralda Counties. Reid believes the rail line should not be built and that the STB is the wrong entity to approve such construction in any case. Following is the text of Reid's statement:

A uranium company moved closer to bringing the Goliad project online as it focuses on Texas in the current economic environment. Uranium Energy Corp. submitted the last two permit applications needed for in-situ recovery in Goliad County to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Monday, Harry Anthony, chief operating officer, said.

The power company serving Rocky Mount has received regulatory approval to continue operating one of the nuclear power plants that supplies electricity to the city. The approval, combined with others, possibly could lead to stabilizing or even lowering electric rates in the long run, officials said. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the licensing of the Shearon-Harris nuclear power plant near Raleigh through 2046.

President-elect Barack Obama and Sen. Harry Reid have had several discussions about the Yucca Mountain Project since the election, with Reid saying this week the nuclear waste burial plan will "bleed real hard" before being halted. Reid said the most recent conversation, covering the waste repository program and other issues, took place Tuesday. He declined to give details, but hinted that the plan to bury 77,000 tons of highly radioactive material in Nevada could die a slow and painful death.

At least two of Nevada's federal officials are hopeful President-elect Barack Obama will shut down further funding of Yucca Mountain. For more than two decades, the Silver State's senators and congressional representatives have fought to keep the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas from becoming a waste dump for nuclear power plants nationwide. The federal government has funded studies showing that Yucca Mountain is the most logical choice for the repository, and has allocated millions of dollars getting the site ready. Those against the project have been able to stall the issue so far, despite support for the project by the Bush administration over the last eight years. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Congresswoman Shelley Berkley both say they are confident Obama will keep his pre-election promise to fight the dump. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy continues to ready the site for the delivery of 77,000 tons of waste. The DOE needs approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. That approval is still three to four years away.

Opponents of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository say they're confident President-elect Barack Obama will make good on a campaign promise to keep nuclear waste from being shipped to Nevada. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid is among Nevada elected leaders who oppose nuclear waste storage in the state. Another opponent, Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that after spending 10 years fighting Yucca Mountain, she can wait three or four more months to make sure it's done.

Building two nuclear reactors in Wake County could cost Progress Energy customers more than $9.3 billion. The cost estimate, disclosed this month to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is Progress Energy's latest projection for the Shearon Harris proposal. It doubles the previous estimate of $4.4 billion provided in February, when the Raleigh utility applied to the NRC for a license to build two reactors at the site in Wake County. For nuclear critics, soaring costs offer the strongest case against building new plants. The power industry has long argued that nuclear plants produce the cheapest electricity, but those arguments have been buried under an avalanche of contrary evidence.