Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Senate urges dumping Yucca
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Senate unanimously passed a measure Monday that urges federal lawmakers to oppose controversial plans for storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Assembly Joint Resolution 4, approved earlier by the Assembly, asks federal decision-makers to give up on Yucca Mountain because it is "an ill-advised project based on bad science, bad law and bad public policy, a choice that ignores better, less expensive and safer alternatives, a choice which hinders, not helps, national security."
Despite delays and spending cuts, Energy Department officials have said recently that the Yucca Mountain plan is alive and well, and that support from the Bush administration remains strong. But opponents have declared the project dead.
Recent problems with the government's plans for the dump include criminal investigations to determine whether workers on the project falsified data.
Also, a court decision has forced a rewrite of radiation safety standards for the site -- and the DOE has scrapped a planned 2010 completion date.
