An honest Yucca answer, come Jan. 20

By Lisa Mascaro

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2008 | 5:12 p.m.

WASHINGTON — The director of the Yucca Mountain project has an opinion on whether the nation’s nuclear waste repository dump will survive with a new president in the White House.

He’s just not saying — at least not today.

In a conference call with reporters on Super Tuesday, the Energy department’s Edward “Ward” Sproat put off the question until next year, when his presidential appointment comes to a likely end with a new president.

“You may want to ask me after January 20 next year, I may give you a more honest answer,” the former nuclear energy executive, hired to put Yucca Mountain back on track, told reporters.

Both the Democratic frontrunners, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, have vowed to end the nuclear waste repository planned for 90 miles north of Las VegasYucca if elected. Republican candidate John McCain supports the waste dump, but Republicans Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney have not taken firm positions.

Sproat reminds that there is a law on the books that says Yucca Mountain will be built to hold the nation’s nuclear waste, and “the next administration will have a decision to make about what it will do about the law.”

But experts say the law has an escape clause – the president can deem the Nevada site unsuitable, essentially pulling Yucca Mountain off the table. The president could also issue an executive order halting the project.

In a wide-ranging talk, Sproat reiterated that he is not sure he will be able to hit the June 2008 deadline to submit a license application for the site, and that the site’s 2017 opening is “clearly out the window” thanks to budget cuts and other set backs.

When asked if he was getting much grief on the Hill for missing the upcoming June deadline, Sproat said: “We had a few people who just wanted to make sure they heard what I said correctly. I said, Yea, you heard it right. Nobody’s pressing me to give them a new fixed date.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid engineered a substantial budget cut for fiscal 2008, forcing the Energy department’s contractor to lay off as many as 500 positions this year. Sproat disclosed today that the project additionally lost 400 positions at the end of fiscal 2007 because it had exhausted extra funds that had been carried over from the previous year.

Still, the engineer remains undeterred, saying he is posting openings for about 50 new Yucca Mountain jobs at Energy department offices in Las Vegas and Washington as the federal government takes on more responsibility for the project from the contractor. The department similarly added about 25 scientific and management jobs last year.

President Bush allocated $495 million for Yucca Mountain in the 2009 budget released this week, similar to last year's request, but Nevada’s lawmakers have vowed to cut that again.