ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 4, 1994                   TAG: 9403040135
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ENERGY CHIEF FEARS POWER SHUTDOWNS

The United States could lose about 20 percent of its electrical power grid within eight years due to nuclear power plant shutdowns, Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary said Thursday.

Under federal law, the states and their local utilities are supposed to have safe places to store any high-level radioactive waste. O'Leary said, "Thirty-two states that have power plants are now about to run out of fuel-rod storage capacity and say, `Sorry, we won't find storage. We'll shut down.' And then we will have a crisis."

O'Leary said finding a solution to the national power grid problem is one of her top priorities.

- Newsday 


 by CNB