Nuclear power provides 65 percent of electricity generated in Graham's state. Also on Wednesday Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham stressed that the nation needs to tackle the nuclear waste problem so that nuclear power output can be increased. On Thursday a congressional panel led by two leading Senate supporters of nuclear energy held a hearing on the industry's brightening future. Today this discussion is happening. That discussion has the close attention of Nevada politicians.
More nuclear power means more nuclear waste.
If approved, Yucca would eventually be the permanent burial ground for 77,000 tons of radioactive spent fuel rods now piling up at the nation's 103 power plant reactors. Nevada's congressional members have battled Yucca initiatives on both political and scientific fronts for years. They are backed by public concerns about transporting waste to Nevada and lingering fears about nuclear plant accidents, but they are up against an influential nuclear energy lobby. The administration is proposing to exacerbate a massive radioactive problem, to which there is currently no solution. He said it was an attempt by Republican leaders to help industry officials who haven't had a new plant commissioned since the 1970s.