Reid, Ensign Respond To EPA’s Weak

Radiation Standard For Yucca Mountain

Nevada Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign responded to the Environmental Protection Agency’s new final standard for what it considers acceptable public radiation exposure from the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump: a decision based on flawed science that will put millions of Nevadans at risk.

“Instead of working to protect the health and safety of Nevadans, EPA and DOE are casting science aside in an attempt to get the nuclear waste dump approved,” said Reid.  “Instead of warring against science, I side with Nevadans and experts who support safe and attainable solutions to our nation’s nuclear waste.  That is why I am working with Sen. Ensign to keep nuclear waste on-site at the power plants where it is produced in secure dry cask storage containers that are approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  This plan is safer, more cost-effective, and will give us at least a century to find a more permanent solution to nuclear waste.”

“The risks associated with Yucca Mountain are no secret,” said Ensign.  “Yet the EPA has decided to disregard science and the health and safety of Nevadans to push this nuclear waste dump further into action.  Instead of trying to dismiss the risks of Yucca Mountain, our country should be moving towards safe on-site nuclear waste storage.  Senator Reid and I will continue to push for this new direction in nuclear waste storage and away from the flawed policy of Yucca Mountain.”

As Federal Agencies Brazenly Ignore Safety,

Nevada Senators Fight for it

Reid, Ensign strongly support state lawsuit against unsafe

radiation exposure, decry reckless plans for nuclear waste

rail line through America’s communities

While the Department of Energy (DOE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cast aside the safety concerns of millions of Nevadans and Americans when it comes to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, Nevada Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign are fighting against the agencies’ slipshod plans.

The DOE reconfirmed today its desire to ship radioactive waste on a commercial rail line through Nevada communities despite the enormous risks associated with transportation and the lack of an acceptable emergency response should an accident occur. Further, the EPA collaborated with the DOE wants to publish its final standard for how much radiation leakage is “acceptable” from radioactive waste containers the federal government wants to dump at Yucca Mountain.

Reid and Ensign strongly support the lawsuit filed today by Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto that challenges this EPA standard, and they stand in firm opposition to the DOE’s radically unsafe railroad concept. A federal court of appeals invalidated the EPA’s original radiation standard in 2004 after the State of Nevada successfully challenged it.

“The Energy Department’s proposal to endanger Nevada communities and thousands more across the country by putting nuclear trash on a train and rolling mobile dirty bombs on the nation’s railways is absurd. And the EPA’s approach is no better,” Reid said. “Crossing your fingers and hoping for the best is not a plan – it’s a complete lack of responsibility. We will win this lawsuit and finally send Yucca Mountain right off the rails.”

“The latest decision by the DOE should come as little surprise,” Ensign said. “The DOE has developed a history of ignoring the safety risks associated with Yucca Mountain and has put the lives of millions of Nevadans in danger as a result. The policy of Yucca Mountain is not sound.  As the Nevada Delegation continues to stand in opposition to the nuclear dump, the DOE must realize that it is time for a new policy for nuclear waste storage, one that does not haphazardly put the health and safety of Nevadans at risk.”