DOE nominee hopeful new science has answers for nuclear waste
1/13/2009
WASHINGTON -- Steven Chu said this morning that as energy secretary he will pursue the "best possible scientific analysis" to chart the disposal of the nation's nuclear waste, without saying specifically what he plans to do about the proposed Yucca Mountain repository.
Appearing at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Chu was asked by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, how he plans to approach nuclear waste management where the government's preferred disposal site in Nevada "is about 10 years late."
Nuclear waste poses "very thorny questions," Chu responded, noting that President-elect Barack Obama has stated "very clearly" his opposition to the Nevada site where the Energy Department is seeking a license to build disposal tunnels for more than 77,000 tons of radioactive material.
In follow-up questions from other senators, Chu similarly gave no endorsement to the Yucca project. Several times he said nuclear waste storage would be a priority, including the possibility of joining with other nations. Chu said those ongoing efforts should not hold up development of new nuclear power plants.
"I am very confident the Department of Energy with cooperation with other countries can get a solution to the nuclear waste problem," he said.
Chu, who is the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, said he hopes science will provide answers, including nuclear waste recycling "in the long term."
"There is a lot of new science coming to the floor, and I will look to use the best possible scientific analysis to try to figure out a way to go forward with nuclear waste disposal," Chu said. "That will occupy a significant part of our time and energy."
Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, will likely be confirmed next week to the post, according to Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., Energy Committee chairman.
Bingaman said he expects to call a committee vote for later this week on Chu, and the Senate will be poised to follow up with a final confirmation vote as early as Jan. 20, the day President-elect Barack Obama takes office.
Chu has emerged as a "noncontroversial" candidate, Bingaman said at the opening of Chu's confirmation hearing.
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief
Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.
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