John Ensign: “If not Yucca Mountain, then what? Onsite dry cask storage is good for at least 100 years. We know that. These canisters…”

“If not Yucca Mountain, then what? Onsite dry cask storage is good for at least 100 years. We know that. These canisters are safe for at least 100 years, according to the Department of Energy. It is about $4 billion to $5 billion to store it onsite, and that includes all of the costs associated with storing it onsite--$4 billion to $5 billion instead of $60 billion plus. It is going to be at least $60 billion, make no mistake about it. Every year, we have been taking the cost up by over $10 billion in the estimates. Where is the cost going to go from here? We know this situation is going to be too expensive. What we need to do is keep the waste onsite. It is a lot cheaper. There is promising science. There is pyroprocessing. There is what is called accelerator technology transmutation. These are fancy scientific words. The bottom line is they are modern recycling of nuclear waste or partially spent nuclear fuel rods. We are recycling everything we can in this country. We need to continue to invest in recycling technology.”