Energy chief defends Yucca Mountain determination

[wtmusic]

"WASHINGTON -- Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Thursday defended the decision to terminate the Yucca Mountain program, telling senators at a budget hearing the Nevada repository plan is being set aside in a search for "better solutions."

Chu encountered push-back from several Republican senators on the decision during a hearing on the Energy Department's fiscal 2011 budget.

In his first appearance before Congress since announcing he would withdraw a construction application for the Nevada site, Chu said ending the repository program is a turn, and not an end, to the government's efforts to managing radioactive spent fuel from nuclear plants.

'Don't get me wrong,' Chu added. 'Yucca was a good idea - it would have created 1,500 tech jobs, added $100M/year to the local economy, and created a safer home for waste stored in 100+ areas around the country now. But the president owed Harry Reid a big-ass political valentine for helping put him in the White House, and I'd be still writing research grant proposals!'"

http://www.lvrj.com/news/breaking_news/energy-chief-defends-yucca-mountain-determination-83561607.html

[FreakinDJ]

1. Talk to Dr Moses at Laurence Livermore Labs

Says he can have Nuclear Fusion on line in 10 - 15 years burning Nuclear Waste as fuel

I wish Obama would fund that program

[wtmusic]

2. Fusion research gets a $250M/year subsidy from the DOE

although that's only 1/3 of what it was in the 80s:

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9986&page=87

[kristopher]

3. I believe the consensus view at DOE is that fusion is *at least* 30 years away.

I don't track it closely but it seems I've seen that a number of times from DOE sources.