Bush White House, GOP Declare 2017 New "Mission Accomplished" Date for Turning Nevada into a Nuclear Garbage Dump

(Washington, DC -- July 19, 2006) Despite a new rosy scenario from the Bush White House that envisions nuclear waste being buried at Yucca Mountain by next decade, Congresswoman Shelley Berkley says the proposed radioactive garbage dump 90 minutes outside Las Vegas continues to be plagued by lingering scientific uncertainties and a record of fraud and mismanagement that will doom its chances of ever opening. The new timeline for opening Yucca Mountain by 2017 is being presented to a Congressional panel today.

"The Bush Administration and its Republican allies in Congress will not rest until they turn Nevada into a nuclear garbage dump. They have wasted billions of dollars on this flawed flight of fancy that poses an unacceptable risk to Nevada families and our environment. While the White House may have ordered a ‘mission accomplished’ banner to go along with this new timetable, nothing will erase the long list of failures hanging over the Yucca Mountain Project,” said Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (D-NV), who is leading the fight in the House to stop the proposed repository.

"Strong scientific evidence has clearly demonstrated that Yucca Mountain will not protect Nevadans from deadly radioactive waste. But that has not stopped the relentless drive by the White House to force the dump on Nevada families, regardless of the threat. In order to make this a reality, Republican House leaders and their Senate counterparts are supporting legislation authored by the Bush Administration that strips away existing safety protections and limits public opposition. The Bush Yucca Mountain bill will nearly double the amount of nuclear waste that will be dumped in Nevada, resulting in thousands of additional waste shipments through Las Vegas and other cities across the United States,” Berkley said.

"As for Yucca Mountain’s staggering price tag, I am amazed that at a time when we face an $8 trillion debt, there is apparently an endless supply of money to be spent by the Republican Congress on President Bush’s pet plan to bury Nevada in nuclear waste,” said Berkley.

As for hurdles standing in the way of Yucca Mountain, Berkley points to the lack of an approved radiation standard for the proposed dump, seismic and volcanic activity at the site, legal challenges by the State of Nevada, and nationwide opposition to waste shipments which threaten to release radioactive contamination in the event of an accident or terrorist attack. Rather than allow waste to be dumped in Nevada, Berkley supports legislation that would require waste to be kept on-site at nuclear plants in dry cask storage, where it can safely remain for the next 100 years.

# # #