Bush clears way for Nevada nuclear waste dump
Date: 25-Jul-02
Country: USA
Author: Adam Entous
The resolution, which Bush signed behind closed-doors, overrides Nevada's veto of the administration's plan to put the country's first permanent nuclear waste repository in the Nevada desert, 90 miles (150 km) northwest of Las Vegas.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the move, after 20 years of scientific study, was "an important step forward on the way to a comprehensive policy for dealing with our nation's nuclear waste."
But he conceded that legal challenges lay ahead as Nevada politicians and activists, citing safety concerns for the region's 1.4 million people, pledged to keep fighting the $58 billion project any way they can.
"I have always believed that our best chance in defeating Yucca Mountain is in the federal courts, where impartial judges will hear the factual and scientific arguments as to why Yucca Mountain is not a safe place to store this nation's high-level nuclear waste," said Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican.
The Republican president signed the resolution in the Oval Office without the fanfare that the White House usually arranges for such events. Aides said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, key lawmakers and Teamsters President James Hoffa attended the private ceremony. The resolution won final congressional approval earlier this month.
Sen. Frank Murkowski, an Alaska Republican and a leading proponent of the site, said the decision to use the Nevada location was based on "sound science, not politics." He urged the White House to move forward with the project as soon as possible to secure "our nation's domestic energy supply."
The U.S. Energy Department still must apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license the project, a process that could take years as the state of Nevada and other opponents of Yucca Mountain gear up for a fight.
'A SCIENTIFICALLY FLAWED PROJECT'
"Unlike Congress, the NRC is required to examine all the science," Guinn said. "The nuclear energy industry will no longer be able to use its political power and dollars to push ahead a scientifically flawed project."
The Yucca Mountain facility is scheduled to open in 2010, a date even supporters say is likely to slip because of legal and regulatory challenges. It would hold 77,000 tons (70,000 metric tonnes) of radioactive material that the Environmental Protection Agency says must be isolated for 10,000 years.
"The successful completion of the Yucca Mountain project will ensure our nation has a safe and secure underground facility that will store nuclear waste in a manner that protects our environment and our citizens," Fleischer said.
Bush himself offered no comment.
There are about 100 nuclear power plants across the country. Spent fuel from these plants is highly radioactive and is stored at 131 sites in 39 states. Many storage tanks are nearly full, and the government has faced lawsuits for failing to meet a 1998 deadline to open a permanent storage site.
Nevada filed several lawsuits to try to stop the project before and after Bush accepted a recommendation by Abraham in February to build the facility in the state.
Opponents, including a number of environmental groups, argue that Yucca Mountain and shipments of nuclear waste to it would provide an inviting target for terrorists in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. The highly radioactive material will be shipped by rail or truck, crossing as many as 43 states and 109 cities with populations of at least 100,000 people.
Proponents of Yucca Mountain, including many big businesses, contend that it would be safer to have the waste in one place rather than scattered at facilities nationwide.
Public opinion polls show that up to 83 percent of Nevadans oppose the project, and some analysts say the dispute could cost Bush the state in the 2004 election. Bush carried Nevada in 2000.
"President Bush campaigned in Nevada on the promise that he would let sound science determine the fate of the Yucca Mountain site. He signed his n