A bill approved by the U.S. House this week would allow closed military bases to become repositories for nuclear waste, the Boston Globe reported Saturday.
Under a little-noticed section of the energy and water bill, $15.5 million would be earmarked for reprocessing nuclear waste from power plants and construction of an interim nuclear waste dump.
The legislation doesn't specify where that dump would be located, but the Globe said the House Appropriations Committee report, which explains the bill, suggests mothballed military bases be considered as potential sites for the waste.
The revelation upset some New Englanders, since that area is to lose four of its largest military bases if the recommendations by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission are adopted.
Slated for closing in New England are the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine; the Brunswick Naval Air Station, which is to be ''realigned," or shrunk; Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod; and the New London Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn.
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