Should Idaho store nuclear waste?

Recently the Idaho Leadership In Nuclear Energy Commission turned in a progress report on the Idaho National Laboratory to the governor, and one portion of the report caught the state’s attention.

The commission suggests the agreement with the federal government to not accept commercial nuclear waste might need to be changed.

Why? Because at this point, Yucca Mountain is off the table, and commercial nuclear waste has to go somewhere.

Should it come to Idaho? Along with the federal dollars that would include?

Jeff Sayer, the state Department of Commerce director, says if Idaho doesn’t consider taking it, other states just begging for it.

“It is not just an environmental issue anymore, it’s an economic issue,” he said, adding that this is a conversation Idahoans need to have.

“We don’t need to talk about this in the spirit of fear,” he said.

For more of our interview with Sayer, watch the video attached to this story in full-browser view or under “Video” in the Local News 8 app.

Of course there are benefits and burdens to consider when suggesting Idaho become an interim nuclear waste storage site.

To view the LINE Commission report, see http://goo.gl/TtOXT.

To view the Snake River Alliance’s response to that report see http://goo.gl/xzDX9 and http://goo.gl/KJhLt.