Berkley demands oversight money for Yucca Mountain

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, April 3, 2001 | 11:17 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada needs $11 million in federal money from Congress to oversee the Congress-approved plans to establish Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste dump, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., wrote in a letter to a key lawmaker on Monday.

"The Nevada Congressional Delegation and the Governor of Nevada remain steadfastly opposed to the storage of nuclear waste in Nevada," Berkley wrote to Rep. Sonny Callahan, R-Ala., chairman of the House Energy and Water Development subcommittee.

"We believe we have a responsibility to monitor this project with funds authorized by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act."

That law designated Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, to be considered as the only potential site for a national nuclear waste repository.

The site, slated for 2010 completion if it is approved and deemed a safe place to bury 77,000 tons of high-level waste, is still under consideration after years of study.

Congress last year gave several Nevada counties $6 million to watch over U.S. Department of Energy studies at Yucca Mountain, but only gave the state $2.5 million, even though state officials are entitled by law to $5 million for oversight. The state operates the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency to act as a watchdog over DOE operations.

Congress several years ago froze Nevada's oversight money amid allegations that the agency misused funds by spending it in an effort to fight the Yucca proposal. But Congress partially restored the money last year, when Gov. Kenny Guinn assured lawmakers that the funds were being used responsibly.