BERKLEY: YUCCA MOUNTAIN FIGHT ENTERS NEW PHASE AS NRC OK’S SHODDY DUMP APPLICATION

Price tag still growing - $100 billion and counting

(Washington D.C. – September 8, 2008) Congresswoman Shelley Berkley today vowed that Nevada will continue fighting the Bush-McCain Yucca Mountain plan even as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed to docket a license application for construction of a proposed nuclear waste dump 90 minutes outside Las Vegas.

"The NRC’s decision puts nuclear politics over the health and safety of Nevada families and you can bet that we will continue fighting the Bush-McCain Yucca Mountain plan. We know this application is incomplete given the clear lack of a radiation standard to safeguard lives and our environment. That alone should have stopped the NRC from rubberstamping a shoddy license application that raises more questions than it answers. This political decision smacks of a railroad job designed to give the Bush-McCain plan for turning Nevada into a nuclear waste dump a shot in the arm two months before the election,” said Congresswoman Shelley Berkley.

“The real news here is that after more than 20 years, Yucca Mountain is still decades behind schedule and the price tag has grown to $100 billion,” said Berkley. “The Bush White House knows the sun is about to set on its eight year long drive to dump nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain As a result, they are desperate to show progress is being made, even as the timetable for the dump has slipped to 2020 or 2025,” said Berkley. “Add to that the risk from volcanoes and earthquakes at Yucca Mountain and the threat to 50 million Americans from decades of toxic waste shipments and you can see why the Bush-McCain Yucca Mountain plan is a disaster for Nevada and our nation,” said Berkley.

Legislation cosponsored by the Congresswoman would allow nuclear waste to be safely stored at power plant sites hardened for protection, eliminating the need for waste to be moved to Yucca Mountain.

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