Monday, June 2, 2008 | 4:48 p.m.
WASHIGNTON - It’s official: The Yucca Mountain license application will be filed Tuesday morning.
Rep. Shelley Berkley’s office just announced that the Energy Department has notified Nevada’s lawmakers in Washington that it plans on Tuesday file its long-promised application to license the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste in Nevada.
This was supposed to be a major milestone for the project. But as I wrote in Sunday’s paper , it may end up being yet another step on a route filled with political setbacks in a state that overwhelming opposes housing the nation’s nuclear waste 90 miles north of Las Vegas.
The application will be submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has 90 days to decide if the proposal is adequate for review. If accepted, the license would undergo scrutiny in a years-long legal proceeding in a courtroom-like setting in Las Vegas. The review could stretch up to four years.
The Democratic presidential candidates, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, have vowed to withdraw the application if elected. Presumed Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, has pledged to move forward with plans for the repository.
“Nevadans know a bad bet when we see one,” Berkley said, “and that is why we vehemently oppose the Bush-McCain Yucca Mountain plan and its decades of toxic radioactive waste shipments.”
“Nevada is not alone in this fight,” she added. “That’s why this submission should be seen for exactly what it is – an $80 billion goodbye present to the nuclear industry from President Bush at the expense of the health and safety of families in Nevada and nationwide.”
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