The 14-member panel will hold a day-long workshop Wednesday to discuss the dismantling and cleanup of the facility. At the top of the group's agenda is how Maine Yankee will store its nuclear waste. The spent radioactive fuel is expected to remain here until at least 2020, probably longer.

"I think that is the main issue," said CAP member Uldis Vanags. "Maine Yankee is going to have to make a decision probably, they say, within a year whether to pursue dry storage or leave the fuel in the spent fuel pool."

Vanags said storing nuclear waste is the federal government's responsibility, and there is about $13 billion, collected from ratepayers, in an account to be used for building a storage facility.

"They've spent a lot of money but they haven't done anything," Vanags said. A site in Nevada has been studied, but completion of that project has been burdened by lawsuits and he is not very optimistic that the government will come up with a solution soon.

So with a federal facility for the nation's spent nuclear fuel yet to be built, Maine Yankee must store it on-si

central nuclear waste storage and disposal -- a step critical to ensuring

''It's not clear to us right now what path Texas intends to go take - assured isolation or permanent disposal.''

plants. Under the status quo, DOE expects to be at least 12 years late

plants. Under the status quo, DOE expects to be at least 12 years late

engineering and scientific input and oversight to the federal nuclear waste

that in missing its deadline DOE claims that at best it will perform 12

Some common words found in the essay are:
Waste Fund, Maine Yankee, Strategy Coalition, France USSR, Energy DOE, Court Claims, Moral Responsibility, Court Appeals, Supreme Court, Board NWTRB, nuclear waste, radioactive waste, high-level radioactive, power plants, high-level radioactive waste, nuclear waste fund, waste fund, nuclear power, storage disposal, federal government, civilian high-level, permanent disposal, civilian high-level radioactive, central storage disposal, spent nuclear fuel,
Approximate Word count = 6342
Approximate Pages = 25 (250 words per page double spaced)