Berkley Opposes New Senate Plan
for Interim Nuke Waste Storage

Yucca Mountain Still Targeted as Radioactive Garbage Dump

(Washington, DC -- June, 27 2006) Congresswoman Shelley Berkley today issued the following statement regarding a new proposal for interim waste storage of nuclear waste authored by Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM). Berkley is opposed to the Senator’s plan which would still send nuclear waste to Nevada for burial at the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. Berkley has introduced her own legislation that would pay nuclear plant operators to keep waste on-site in dry-cask storage, where it can remain safely for the next 100 years. The Berkley plan avoids the dangers that would come with moving large amounts of nuclear waste. Berkley’s statement is as follows:

"Whether it is in Nevada or anywhere else, I oppose the temporary storage of nuclear waste. The risk to our communities that would result from moving this radioactive garbage is too great and our first responders lack the training and resources to deal with large scale shipments of nuclear waste. And we have done no assessment of the terrorist risk that these new temporary storage facilities would present.

"At the end of the day, this plan still calls for nuclear waste to be dumped 90 minutes from Las Vegas, so nothing has really changed, except the timetable for sending radioactive garbage to Yucca Mountain.

"As I have said over and over again, we should use the existing trust fund to pay plant operators to secure nuclear waste on-site. That will keep nuclear waste off of America’s roads and railways and out of Nevada.

"The fact that the supporters of this proposal say Yucca Mountain can wait 25 more years to open only proves that the dump is no longer needed. Nuclear waste can be safely stored on-site for the next 100 years, and we avoid the risk of a terrorist attack or accident involving shipments of deadly nuclear waste.

"For years the nuclear industry has been falsely claiming that Yucca Mountain had to open right away, or else plants would shut down. This obvious lie was meant to create pressure on lawmakers to force radioactive waste down the throats of Nevadans, despite the fact that families in the Silver State overwhelmingly oppose Yucca Mountain. The nuclear industry only cares about its profits, even if they come at the expense of Nevada families who are being asked to sacrifice their own health and safety.”

"Nevadans also recognize that this proposal is part of President Bush’s plan to turn Nevada into the world’s nuclear waste dump through his GNEP proposal. Under this plan, nuclear waste created overseas will be shipped back to the U.S. to be dumped at Yucca Mountain. GNEP may as well stand for giving Nevada everyone else’s problem, because that is precisely what will happen if this plan moves ahead.”

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