Two nuke measures opposed

Wednesday, April 11, 2001 | 11:13 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A parade of witnesses told a legislative committee Tuesday that proposals on the transportation and storage of nuclear waste in Nevada would signal a weakening of the state's opposition to Yucca Mountain.

Solicitor General Tony Clark urged the Senate Transportation Committee to reject both Senate Bill 361 and Senate Joint Resolution 10.

If they passed, "we would be sending the wrong message to Congress and the nuclear power industry that Nevada is willing to accept radioactive materials as long as certain conditions are met," Clark said.

Private citizens and Clark, who represented the Attorney General's Office, Clark County, Citizen Alert and the Office of Nuclear Projects, testified against the acts.

Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site being studied as the nation's high-level nuclear waste dump. If the authorizing legislation is approved by Congress and signed by the president, the dump would play host to 77,000 tons of spent radioactive fuel rods from utilities and military waste.

Witnesses on Tuesday pointed out that Nevada already has a law prohibiting the burial of nuclear waste in the state. And the Legislature approved a resolution this session telling Congress it disapproves of any effort to locate the repository at Yucca Mountain.

Sen. Ray Shaffer, D-North Las Vegas, introduced SB361 last month to require transportation of any nuclear waste be at least 10 miles away from any city or town whose population is more than 3,000.

In addition, the repository must have a continuous monitoring system to make sure the containers do not leak, and any member of the public would be able to view the monitoring device and container through a website on the Internet.

Shaffer said citizens were worried about the transportation of this material through urban areas, and his bill would allow the public to "see what is happening" at the burial grounds.

The bill sets a limit on the public's exposure to radioactive materials to 4 millirems per year, a level slightly below what would be received from a normal X-ray.

His bill takes effect only if Congress decides to name Yucca Mountain as the site for the repository, Shaffer said.The resolution, also introduced by Shaffer, urges Congress to require certain safety precautions in the transportation and storage of nuclear waste if the dump is located at Yucca Mountain.