Battle Over Utah Nuclear Storage Plan

An attempt to stop a nuclear storage plan in Utah now has bipartisan support after Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., joined the effort.

The complicated effort to stop a nuclear storage site at the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes Indian reservation revolves around creating a wilderness protection area around it, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

That designation would prohibit any railroad tracks from being put in the area, thus stopping any spent nuclear fuel shipments from entering it that way.

The designation was included in a Defense Department policy bill likely to pass the Senate after Reid pulled out his objection.

This wouldn’t necessarily end the nuclear storage plan though, as the company contracted to carry the plan out said they would just move the fuel in a less safe way, via trucks.

The deal between Reid and the Utah congressional delegation also adds some more politics to nuclear storage policy.

Sen. Bob Bennet, R-Utah, said he now joins Reid in opposing a plan to permanently store spent nuclear fuel in Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

That plan is heavily favored by the Bush administration.