©2025 League of Conservation Voters
1980 Scorecard Vote
51
44
5
Issues
S. 2189. The vote is on the Johnston motion to kill the Hart amendment to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which would have restricted the use of federal Away-From-Reactor (AFR) storage sites for spent nuclear fuel. The amendment would have limited Away-From-Reactor storage to those cases where it was absolutely necessary because the utilities no longer had any space left at their own nuclear sites. The amendment would have reduced the risk of nuclear accidents caused by the long distance transportation of dangerous nuclear wastes to a few centralized facilities. Environmentalists also viewed a broad Away-From-Reactor storage program as a subsidy to the nuclear industry, which could then wash its hands of the problem and make government responsible for paying all the costs of storing the nuclear wastes. Nor would the AFR program have significantly improved safety precautions, because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was already overseeing the handling of nuclear wastes at private facilities. The Carter Administration sent confusing messages about the Hart amendment, with the White House saying one thing and the Department of Energy another. July 30, 1980. Amendment killed 51-44. NO was the correct vote.
©2025 League of Conservation Voters