Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell Urges Passage of Yucca Mountain Bill

In an October 16, 2006, letter (PDF) to Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell said he is a "strong advocate for the creation of a national repository of spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada" and urges the senator to "take whatever action is necessary to ensure that construction of the final repository proceeds." In particular, he states his support for S.3692, the legislation proposed by Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) Sept. 27.

Pennsylvania has nine nuclear power plants on five sites. Due to the lack of a permanent SNF [spent nuclear fuel] repository, the commonwealth has now accumulated one of the largest inventories of SNF in the nation. Unfortunately, many of the spent fuel pools in Pennsylvania are filled to or near capacity. As a result, those sites in Pennsylvania have been forced to add on-site dry storage capacity. These facilities are expensive to build and maintain, and they obviously are not capable of addressing long-term storage needs for spent fuel and again present serious security concerns for which no state is prepared to address in perpetuity.

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While I believe that S.3692 moves things in the right direction, I urge the Senate to take whatever action is necessary to ensure that construction of the final repository proceeds. To this end, Congress should enable full funding and continued development of a permanent repository at Yucca Mountain for the nation's high-level radioactive waste and SNF.

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