Washington needs to forge ahead and keep its nuclear waste promises

Amid a sea of discouraging nuclear waste developments, South Carolinians have received a rare bit of promising news. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., recently announced that a significant conflict that has delayed construction of a mixed-oxide plant at the Savannah River Site appears to be resolved.

Hopefully it's a step toward genuine progress for the much-needed facility as the federal government has been long on promises and short on results with regard to circumstances at the Savannah site. Washington needs to double its efforts to push forward with this project.

Graham said a tentative agreement has been reached with Russia over liability concerns on the collaborative international project. Both countries intend to construct mixed-oxide -- or MOX -- facilities that would convert plutonium into commercial nuclear fuel. The conflict over liability protection for U.S. workers assisting with the Russian facility has put the start of construction on the SRS plant on hold for more than a year. Also, funding concerns remain as Congress is divided as to how much money it is ready to commit to the project.

Highlighted by the federal government's infamous clash with Gov. Jim Hodges in 2001, South Carolina has evolved into a dumping ground for high-level nuclear waste even though SRS is not equipped for long-term storage of such hazardous materials. And recent developments on that front have been discouraging.

News broke on July 21 that the Savannah River Site soon could be home to more high-level nuclear waste -- a particularly dangerous material known as plutonium-238 -- that would be trucked to the site from Washington state for processing and storage.

This comes right on the heels of news in June that the U.S. House approved the storage of commercial nuclear waste at federal facilities, with SRS a strong candidate to be one of them.

Construction and operation of the MOX plant was a carrot the federal government dangled in front of South Carolina in 2001, along with its assurances that SRS was only a temporary storage solution. A federal repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., designed specifically for long-term storage of high-level waste, is in the works. But it, too, has been fraught with problems ranging from funding to environmental outcries to a congressional panel investigation of possible Department of Energy paperwork fraud involving the project.

On almost every nuclear front, Washington simply seems to be running in place and making no significant progress. Let's hope Graham's news is a sign of change in that regard. Congress needs to work aggressively to resolve conflicts and bring these projects to fruition.

It's time for Washington to show South Carolina that its earlier assurances will, indeed, amount to more than empty promises.