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02/09/2005:

"Energy Secretary 'Focused' on Yucca Mtn."

WASHINGTON (AP) - Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told lawmakers Wednesday that while progress on a nuclear waste project in Nevada will be delayed, the government is ``very focused and committed'' to building the facility.

Bodman was questioned about the Bush administration's commitment to the program two days after the Energy Department said it would ask for only $651 million for the Yucca Mountain program for the budget year that begins in October.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, noted that until recently, it had been anticipated that beginning next year the department would need more than $1 billion a year to keep the program on track so it could begin accepting high-level waste from nuclear power plants by 2010.

Department officials have delayed plans to submit a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the project and acknowledged the new target date for opening the facility - if it gets an NRC license - is 2012.

Potential problems that could delay programs, Bodman said, are court rulings that strike down the proposed radiation safety standards for the site and problems in preparation of the license application. But that ``is not to suggest any less enthusiasm for Yucca Mountain,'' Bodman told the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Full Article: guardian.co.uk

Well of course not. What's a little lethal radiation among friends?