South Carolina senator seeks reversal of Yucca Mountain work stoppage

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has said his home state and Georgia need the Obama administration to reverse its decision to abandon a long-sought disposal site for nuclear waste in the Nevada mountains.

Graham was among officials and business leaders from communities near the Savannah River Site who addressed a presidential advisory panel on nuclear waste in Augusta on Friday.

The panel heard from Graham and others that a 2009 decision to halt work on the Yucca Mountain disposal site for nuclear waste has hurt their communities. The decision left nowhere designated to send radioactive waste from the Savannah River Site, the former nuclear weapons complex on the Georgia-South Carolina border.

Business leaders said that abandoning Yucca Mountain left an impression that the Savannah River Site is now a permanent waste dump.