Wamp: Oak Ridge Doesn't Need More Nuclear Waste
March 3, 2007

OAK RIDGE - U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said Friday that he's opposed to any proposals that would bring the nation's spent nuclear fuel to Oak Ridge for processing.

"I want waste leaving here, not coming here," Wamp said during a brief meeting with the news media at the Y-12 National Security Complex.

Oak Ridge is a candidate site for three proposed facilities as part of the Bush administration's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.

Two of those facilities - a reprocessing plant and a reactor that burns reprocessed fuel - would involve tons of highly radioactive nuclear fuel. The third would be a research center for the nuclear programs, and Wamp said he doesn't have a problem with that one.

Wamp said he's concerned that the GNEP proposals could have a negative effect on other new projects targeted for Oak Ridge.

"Some of our new missions you don't even know about yet, and they're coming here," the congressman said. He declined to be specific about the missions, but he said they would broaden the base of the work currently done in Oak Ridge.

Wamp is known as a strong nuclear advocate, and some Oak Ridge officials have suggested that he's taking the anti-GNEP stance because he doesn't want the waste issue "around his neck" if he decides to run for governor.

Asked about that, Wamp said, "I can tell you unequivocally that issue never crossed my mind."