Bush-McCain Dump Plan Still Moving Ahead        

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley issued the following statement in response to a decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission denying a challenge by Nevada to halt efforts by the Bush White House to license a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.   

“Nevada will continue to fight in Congress, in the courts and before the NRC and this ruling does not change our opposition to the Bush-McCain Yucca Mountain plan or eliminate the dangers to 50 million Americans from decades of waste shipments.  We are talking about a $100 billion mountain of radioactive pork that is riddled with flawed science and which sits in area that has been rocked by earthquakes and volcanoes,” said Berkley.  “I also strongly agree with Commissioner Dr. Greg Jaczko’s dissent over the issue of evaluating a license application that does not include an EPA radiation standard.  How can we know the risk that Yucca Mountain poses to human health if we do not have a final exposure limit and that is why NRC should not move forward on evaluating DOE’s application until this critical safety issue is fully addressed.  There is absolutely no reason to risk the lives of families in Nevada and across our nation when we can safely leave waste on-site at the plants where it is produced for the next 100 years.  On-site storage avoids the risks of transporting this toxic garbage, not once, but possibly multiple times, and leaves open the option to end Yucca Mountain while we look at real solutions to the nuclear waste problem.”