Republicans offer waste-repository fix; Reid dismisses measure as 'ridiculous'

摘要

Seven Republican senators, including the ranking member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, introduced a bill last week that would allow the Energy Department to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada for 300 years without having to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards for radiation.rnThe Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2008 would also lift a limit on the amount of waste that DOE could be placed in the repository and require the department to file a license application for the facility with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by June 30.rnSenator James Inhofe of Oklahoma introduced the bill on Thursday, with Republican senators John Barrasso of Wyoming, Larry Craig and Mike Crapo of Idaho, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Kit Bond of Missouri and Jim DeMint of South Carolina.