The bill included an amendment that specifically ruled out Hanford as a site for temporary storage of highly radioactive nuclear reactor fuel rods. Many nuclear power companies now store used fuel rods in concrete casts at their plants. The Washington Public Power Supply System plant north of Richland soon will begin storing its used rods in such casks, after the power station runs out of room in underwater pools.
Utilities owning nuclear power plants say they're running short of storage space.
Twenty-six of the 110 commercial nuclear reactor operators in the U.S. will run out of storage space by 1998, and 80 or so could be full by 2010, the Nuclear Energy Institute says. What's more, a federal appeals court ruled that the Energy Department must start taking delivery of some spent fuel from companies by January 1998. Nev. Last year, Congress passed a measure that would have created a temporary central storage site in Nevada. President Clinton vetoed it, saying he was worried about the site's transient nature. The temporary facility also would divert resources away from Yucca Mountain, administration officials said.