CBS Notices Obama Administration Playing Politics With Nuclear Waste Disposal, NBC and ABC Silent
Since Japan's earthquake and following nuclear crisis, the CBS Evening News has done two reports on the Obama administration blocking use of the Yucca Mountain storage facility in Nevada to safely dispose of U.S. nuclear waste. Meanwhile, NBC and ABC have ignored the controversy. The first CBS report on the issue came on March 22, when Evening News anchor Katie Couric declared: “The crisis in Japan has renewed the debate over nuclear power in this country. Today a federal appeals court heard arguments in a lawsuit over what to do with spent fuel rods.” Correspondent Jim Axelrod explained: “An estimated 66,000 metric tons of spent fuel are stored at 77 sites around the country. That's more than 145 million pounds….Plans to make Yucca Mountain in Nevada a long-term storage site were scuttled by the Obama administration a year ago, after 20 years of planning costing $14 billion.” In a follow-up piece on Thursday's Evening News, correspondent Armen Keteyian went further in laying blame on the Obama administration: “There was one site designed to hold all of our nation's nuclear waste and it's right here in the high desert of Nevada, at a place called Yucca Mountain. Today, the federal government won't let our cameras anywhere near it. It's shut down, locked up, caught up in what critics charge is nothing more than pure politics.” Fill-in anchor Erica Hill teased Keteyian's report at the top of the broadcast: “Why did plans to bury nuclear waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain get killed? Was it safety fears or politics?” Keteyian described how the, “Obama administration kept its campaign promise….And shut down Yucca Mountain. Now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must decide if it wants to restart what is already a 25-year, $14 billion project, in the face of tough opposition, like that from Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate majority leader from Nevada.” Keteyian also pointed out the political background of the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under Obama: “A former staffer for Senator Reid, Greg Jaczko, now chairs the NRC. Jaczko recently came under fire after shutting down the agency's safety review of Yucca Mountain and after key safety recommendations were redacted, cut out, from a long-awaited NRC report.” In the March 22 report, Axelrod noted: “The head of the NRC may not see a pressing problem, but the states now suing did not want to take that risk before Japan's disaster and certainly don't want to now.” On Thursday, Keteyian challenged Jaczko: “Critics charge that you were simply doing the bidding of your former boss, Senator Harry Reid, a fierce opponent of this project.” Keteyian concluded his piece: “The NRC inspector general and Congress are now investigating the decision to shut down the safety review. Still, nuclear waste is scattered across 35 states, and Yucca Mountain sits silent and empty.” Here is a full transcript of Keteyian's March 31 report: 6:30PM ET TEASE: ERICA HILL: Why did plans to bury nuclear waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain get killed? Was it safety fears or politics?
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CBS Notices Obama Administration Playing Politics With Nuclear Waste Disposal, NBC and ABC Silent
Since Japan's earthquake and following nuclear crisis, the CBS Evening News has done two reports on the Obama administration blocking use of the Yucca Mountain storage facility in Nevada to safely dispose of U.S. nuclear waste. Meanwhile, NBC and ABC have ignored the controversy. The first CBS report on the issue came on March 22, when Evening News anchor Katie Couric declared: “The crisis in Japan has renewed the debate over nuclear power in this country. Today a federal appeals court heard arguments in a lawsuit over what to do with spent fuel rods.” Correspondent Jim Axelrod explained: “An estimated 66,000 metric tons of spent fuel are stored at 77 sites around the country. That's more than 145 million pounds….Plans to make Yucca Mountain in Nevada a long-term storage site were scuttled by the Obama administration a year ago, after 20 years of planning costing $14 billion.” In a follow-up piece on Thursday's Evening News, correspondent Armen Keteyian went further in laying blame on the Obama administration: “There was one site designed to hold all of our nation's nuclear waste and it's right here in the high desert of Nevada, at a place called Yucca Mountain. Today, the federal government won't let our cameras anywhere near it. It's shut down, locked up, caught up in what critics charge is nothing more than pure politics.” Fill-in anchor Erica Hill teased Keteyian's report at the top of the broadcast: “Why did plans to bury nuclear waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain get killed? Was it safety fears or politics?” Keteyian described how the, “Obama administration kept its campaign promise….And shut down Yucca Mountain. Now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must decide if it wants to restart what is already a 25-year, $14 billion project, in the face of tough opposition, like that from Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate majority leader from Nevada.” Keteyian also pointed out the political background of the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under Obama: “A former staffer for Senator Reid, Greg Jaczko, now chairs the NRC. Jaczko recently came under fire after shutting down the agency's safety review of Yucca Mountain and after key safety recommendations were redacted, cut out, from a long-awaited NRC report.” In the March 22 report, Axelrod noted: “The head of the NRC may not see a pressing problem, but the states now suing did not want to take that risk before Japan's disaster and certainly don't want to now.” On Thursday, Keteyian challenged Jaczko: “Critics charge that you were simply doing the bidding of your former boss, Senator Harry Reid, a fierce opponent of this project.” Keteyian concluded his piece: “The NRC inspector general and Congress are now investigating the decision to shut down the safety review. Still, nuclear waste is scattered across 35 states, and Yucca Mountain sits silent and empty.” Here is a full transcript of Keteyian's March 31 report: 6:30PM ET TEASE: ERICA HILL: Why did plans to bury nuclear waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain get killed? Was it safety fears or politics?
Posted by
on April 1, 2011. Filed under News.
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You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
CBS Notices Obama Administration Playing Politics With Nuclear Waste Disposal, NBC and ABC Silent
Since Japan's earthquake and following nuclear crisis, the CBS Evening News has done two reports on the Obama administration blocking use of the Yucca Mountain storage facility in Nevada to safely dispose of U.S. nuclear waste. Meanwhile, NBC and ABC have ignored the controversy. The first CBS report on the issue came on March 22, when Evening News anchor Katie Couric declared: “The crisis in Japan has renewed the debate over nuclear power in this country. Today a federal appeals court heard arguments in a lawsuit over what to do with spent fuel rods.” Correspondent Jim Axelrod explained: “An estimated 66,000 metric tons of spent fuel are stored at 77 sites around the country. That's more than 145 million pounds….Plans to make Yucca Mountain in Nevada a long-term storage site were scuttled by the Obama administration a year ago, after 20 years of planning costing $14 billion.” In a follow-up piece on Thursday's Evening News, correspondent Armen Keteyian went further in laying blame on the Obama administration: “There was one site designed to hold all of our nation's nuclear waste and it's right here in the high desert of Nevada, at a place called Yucca Mountain. Today, the federal government won't let our cameras anywhere near it. It's shut down, locked up, caught up in what critics charge is nothing more than pure politics.” Fill-in anchor Erica Hill teased Keteyian's report at the top of the broadcast: “Why did plans to bury nuclear waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain get killed? Was it safety fears or politics?” Keteyian described how the, “Obama administration kept its campaign promise….And shut down Yucca Mountain. Now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must decide if it wants to restart what is already a 25-year, $14 billion project, in the face of tough opposition, like that from Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate majority leader from Nevada.” Keteyian also pointed out the political background of the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under Obama: “A former staffer for Senator Reid, Greg Jaczko, now chairs the NRC. Jaczko recently came under fire after shutting down the agency's safety review of Yucca Mountain and after key safety recommendations were redacted, cut out, from a long-awaited NRC report.” In the March 22 report, Axelrod noted: “The head of the NRC may not see a pressing problem, but the states now suing did not want to take that risk before Japan's disaster and certainly don't want to now.” On Thursday, Keteyian challenged Jaczko: “Critics charge that you were simply doing the bidding of your former boss, Senator Harry Reid, a fierce opponent of this project.” Keteyian concluded his piece: “The NRC inspector general and Congress are now investigating the decision to shut down the safety review. Still, nuclear waste is scattered across 35 states, and Yucca Mountain sits silent and empty.” Here is a full transcript of Keteyian's March 31 report: 6:30PM ET TEASE: ERICA HILL: Why did plans to bury nuclear waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain get killed? Was it safety fears or politics?
Posted by
on April 1, 2011. Filed under Politics.
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CBS Notices Obama Administration Playing Politics With Nuclear Waste Disposal, NBC and ABC Silent
Since Japan's earthquake and following nuclear crisis, the CBS Evening News has done two reports on the Obama administration blocking use of the Yucca Mountain storage facility in Nevada to safely dispose of U.S. nuclear waste. Meanwhile, NBC and ABC have ignored the controversy. The first CBS report on the issue came on March 22, when Evening News anchor Katie Couric declared: “The crisis in Japan has renewed the debate over nuclear power in this country. Today a federal appeals court heard arguments in a lawsuit over what to do with spent fuel rods.” Correspondent Jim Axelrod explained: “An estimated 66,000 metric tons of spent fuel are stored at 77 sites around the country. That's more than 145 million pounds….Plans to make Yucca Mountain in Nevada a long-term storage site were scuttled by the Obama administration a year ago, after 20 years of planning costing $14 billion.” In a follow-up piece on Thursday's Evening News, correspondent Armen Keteyian went further in laying blame on the Obama administration: “There was one site designed to hold all of our nation's nuclear waste and it's right here in the high desert of Nevada, at a place called Yucca Mountain. Today, the federal government won't let our cameras anywhere near it. It's shut down, locked up, caught up in what critics charge is nothing more than pure politics.” Fill-in anchor Erica Hill teased Keteyian's report at the top of the broadcast: “Why did plans to bury nuclear waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain get killed? Was it safety fears or politics?” Keteyian described how the, “Obama administration kept its campaign promise….And shut down Yucca Mountain. Now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must decide if it wants to restart what is already a 25-year, $14 billion project, in the face of tough opposition, like that from Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate majority leader from Nevada.” Keteyian also pointed out the political background of the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under Obama: “A former staffer for Senator Reid, Greg Jaczko, now chairs the NRC. Jaczko recently came under fire after shutting down the agency's safety review of Yucca Mountain and after key safety recommendations were redacted, cut out, from a long-awaited NRC report.” In the March 22 report, Axelrod noted: “The head of the NRC may not see a pressing problem, but the states now suing did not want to take that risk before Japan's disaster and certainly don't want to now.” On Thursday, Keteyian challenged Jaczko: “Critics charge that you were simply doing the bidding of your former boss, Senator Harry Reid, a fierce opponent of this project.” Keteyian concluded his piece: “The NRC inspector general and Congress are now investigating the decision to shut down the safety review. Still, nuclear waste is scattered across 35 states, and Yucca Mountain sits silent and empty.” Here is a full transcript of Keteyian's March 31 report: 6:30PM ET TEASE: ERICA HILL: Why did plans to bury nuclear waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain get killed? Was it safety fears or politics?
