Disclosure of nuclear waste routes is sought

Wednesday, June 27, 2001 | 10:05 a.m.

U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., plans to insert an amendment to the House Energy and Water Appropriations bill today to force the Energy Department to publish nationwide high-level nuclear waste transportation routes.

Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site under study by the DOE to bury 77,000 tons of commercial reactor spent fuel and defense waste from across the country.

In addition to disclosing the routes, Berkley's amendment would mandate the DOE perform an environmental analysis of each route.

Titled the "Nuclear Waste Transportation Right to Know Amendment," the measure is designed to raise public awareness of the dangers of transporting the deadly radioactive waste and to bring the issue home to every congressional district in the country, Berkley's spokesman Michael O'Donovan said.

The appropriations bill has historically supplied millions of dollars for public works projects in Southern Nevada, including flood control and funds for Lake Mead water quality and the Las Vegas Wash, but has also been the vehicle for DOE's study money of Yucca Mountain.

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