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TONIGHT: Nuclear fuel meeting in Pasco
(Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, WA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 17--Pasco Tri-Citians will get something tonight that some Seattle and Portland residents are clamoring for -- a public hearing on the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.
Last month the Department of Energy released a new draft environmental study on the partnership that favored reprocessing fuel that has been used in nuclear power plants rather than using it only once.
DOE has scheduled 13 public hearings on the study around the country, but just two in the Northwest. One is at 7 p.m. today in the Pasco Red Lion Hotel, 2525 N. 20th Ave. and the other is in Hood River, Ore., tomorrow at the Hood River Inn, 1108 E. Marina Way.
The state of Oregon wants another meeting added in Portland. And Heart of America Northwest has called for more meetings in Seattle and Spokane.
But with no additional meetings planned, opponents of reprocessing nuclear waste are offering free rides from Portland to the Hood River meeting on a biodiesel bus.
The draft study, or programmatic environmental impact statement, looked at alternatives to the practice of using nuclear fuel once and then sending it to a deep geological repository, such as Yucca Mountain, Nev.
The study did not pick one option as preferred, saying only that DOE preferred to close the fuel cycle, or reuse fuel.
The study also did not narrow sites for researching or reprocessing fuel, but did include information about areas, including Hanford, that might be appropriate for nuclear projects.
The study looks at ways to support the expansion of nuclear energy production, while reducing the risks of nuclear proliferation and the impacts of disposing of nuclear fuel in geologic repositories.
It assessed alternatives that the study said could reduce the amount or change the characteristics of used fuel and radioactive wastes requiring disposal in the future.
Opponents of reuse are concerned that reprocessing would generate its own waste.
The report is posted at www.gnep.energy.gov.
For the full story on tonight's meeting, see Tuesday's Herald and tricityherald.com.
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Copyright (c) 2008, Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.
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