City vows to battle nuke waste at Yucca

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, Feb. 8, 2001 | 11:35 a.m.

TV call-in

Mayor Oscar Goodman will host a live call-in television program at 7 p.m. on Wednesday to answer questions about Yucca Mountain. The show airs on the city's cable channel, KCLV Cox cable Channel 2.

Hoping to succeed where other governments have failed, Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic promised Wednesday new arguments and a round of lawsuits to keep nuclear waste from coming to Yucca Mountain.

"The Department of Energy and Congress can depend on the fact that there will be a flurry of legal activity in the coming months," Jerbic said.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has charged Jerbic and his office with finding a way to file a lawsuit against the Department of Energy for proposing a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site under consideration to store 77,000 tons of the nation's nuclear waste.

In the past month Jerbic has met with representatives of the state Agency for Nuclear Projects and the attorney general. They have sent him volumes of research material, he said.

Jerbic said the federal government plans to collect nuclear waste from 77 sites around the country, in 35 states. The waste will travel through 43 states before landing in Nevada.

If there were a high-speed impact with fire and fuel oxidation, Jerbic said, reports show 42 square miles would be contaminated. It would take 462 days to clean and the cost to taxpayers would be $620 million, he said, citing studies.

Eight previous lawsuits filed in the 1980s by the state were ultimately thrown out in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In each case, Jerbic said, the court ruled the federal government would have to name Yucca Mountain the permanent site before Nevada has a valid case.

"By only looking at our site, it sure looks like they've chosen it," Jerbic said of the Department of Energy. Jerbic said the official naming of Yucca as the permanent site could be a year away.

Without giving away his strategy, Jerbic said the city will be making arguments the DOE hasn't heard before. He also said there is a possibility the city could wait until the site is named to go after the DOE.

"When they drop the shoe and name Yucca Mountain, we're going to drop the boot and there is going to be significant litigation. The briefs will be ready to file if they go for it," he said.

Jerbic said his office will continue to research the science and the issues surrounding the site, as well as developing legal theories.

Goodman, a member of the National Conference of Mayors, said he would send a letter to all of the mayors around the county whose cities could be affected by the shipment of nuke waste.