High court ruling relieves deadline pressure

Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1998 | 9:02 a.m.

The court let stand a lower court ruling that the Energy Department is obligated to take control of the waste, but cannot be forced to do so if there is no safe place to store it.

The ruling means there is no deadline as to when the government has to take control of 40,000 tons of radioactive waste now stored at nuclear power plants nationwide.

Sen. Harry Reid said the decision by the high court is good news for Nevada's continued opposition to hosting a nuclear waste dump. He said by not taking the case, the high court is indicating that nuclear waste storage is not a pressing national issue.

But Sen. Richard Bryan said he is concerned the nuclear power industry will use the issue to push Congress for quick approval of nuclear waste storage in Nevada.

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