Reid: NRC decision pushes nuclear dump ‘closer to its rightful end’
Las Vegas Sun, 9/13/11 - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday ordered an agency panel to shut down its review of the federal government’s request to turn Nevada into a high-level nuclear waste dump.
Citing budgetary issues, the commission told the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to wrap up work by the end of the month on the Bush-era application to build the dump at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. That’s good news for Nevada, which has diligently been working to kill the dangerous plans for more than two decades.
Certainly, the project could be revived, but it would take an incredible effort to resuscitate it. Plagued by safety issues, technical woes and budget cuts, a Yucca repository has been moribund for years but still hangs on.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has led the fight against a Yucca repository, said the result of the NRC’s order is that it “brings Yucca closer to its rightful end.”
That end can’t come too soon.
Unfortunately, in its order, the NRC left the door open for the project. The commission was asked to review a decision by the board that said the Obama administration didn’t have the authority to withdraw the application to build the dump. A 2-2 vote by the NRC let the board’s decision stand. Nuclear power advocates who have been championing a Yucca repository saw the vote as a victory in their favor because it keeps the project alive.
Read the whole article >>
Reid: NRC decision pushes nuclear dump ‘closer to its rightful end’
Las Vegas Sun, 9/13/11 - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday ordered an agency panel to shut down its review of the federal government’s request to turn Nevada into a high-level nuclear waste dump.
Citing budgetary issues, the commission told the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to wrap up work by the end of the month on the Bush-era application to build the dump at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. That’s good news for Nevada, which has diligently been working to kill the dangerous plans for more than two decades.
Certainly, the project could be revived, but it would take an incredible effort to resuscitate it. Plagued by safety issues, technical woes and budget cuts, a Yucca repository has been moribund for years but still hangs on.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has led the fight against a Yucca repository, said the result of the NRC’s order is that it “brings Yucca closer to its rightful end.”
That end can’t come too soon.
Unfortunately, in its order, the NRC left the door open for the project. The commission was asked to review a decision by the board that said the Obama administration didn’t have the authority to withdraw the application to build the dump. A 2-2 vote by the NRC let the board’s decision stand. Nuclear power advocates who have been championing a Yucca repository saw the vote as a victory in their favor because it keeps the project alive.
Read the whole article >>
