Letters to the Editor
The Washington Post
1150 15th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20071

To the Editor:

Your graphics on the President's FY2010 Budget request (5/8/09 A1 "Budget Losers" and A6 "On the Chopping Block) leave the clear impression that the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Yucca Mountain program has been "axed" or "eliminated" (your words).  Moreover, the graphic states "the administration has requested $197 million to explore other options."

As Mark Twain would put it, reports of the death of Yucca Mountain are greatly exaggerated.  The program, which is mandated by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, and was ratified by overwhelming majorities in the Congress in 2002, has, indeed, not been terminated and cannot be terminated without congressional consent.  The DOE Budget Highlights document
(www.energy.gov) on page 47, in fact, shows a total request of $196.8 million to continue the review of the pending Yucca Mountain license application, which is currently before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Moreover, an additional $56 million is also provided to the Commission to allow its review to continue.

While this amount is well short of the funding needed to maintain a truly viable licensing process, the budget, in short, provides Yucca Mountain funding to support continuation of the licensing process initiated in 2008, which is a precursor to construction authorization as early as 2011.

Sincerely,

Edward M. Davis
Coordinator
Sustainable Fuel Cycle Task Force
1718 M Street, NW
Washington, DC  20036
Telephone:  202-262-6236
edavis@sustainablefuelcylce.com