A House energy panel says it is investigating the Obama administration decision to halt plans to bury the nation's nuclear waste in Nevada.
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WASHINGTON (WACH, AP) -- A House energy panel says it is investigating the Obama administration decision to halt plans to bury the nation's nuclear waste in Nevada.
GOP Reps. Fred Upton of Michigan and John Shimkus of Illinois say there is no scientific or technical basis for withdrawing the application for the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository. In the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis, lawmakers have focused anew on why the Obama administration abandoned Yucca Mountain, the nation's only permanent storage site designated for spent nuclear fuel.
Upton chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Shimkus chairs the environment and economy subcommittee. They notified Energy Secretary Steven Chu about the investigation on Thursday.
South Carolina and Washington state are among those suing the president and other federal officials to try to restart plans to ship spent nuclear fuel to Yucca Mountain.
Gov. Nikki Haley previously told President Barack Obama that South Carolina wants its money back if the Yucca Mountain nuclear storage site isn't opening.
Haley said she told Obama that the federal government has reneged on its promise, and South Carolina wants a refund.
The Nevada site was proposed to house more than 4,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste from South Carolina's Savannah River Site. The state and Washington have sued over Obama's attempt to kill plans for the storage site after decades of study.
South Carolina's power plants and its customers have contributed more than $1 billion to a permanent repository over nearly 30 years.
Where do you think nuclear waste should be stored? Leave your comments below.(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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