Nevada files suit on new Yucca rules

Friday, April 12, 2002 | 11:13 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- As part of its expanding anti-Yucca Mountain campaign, Nevada filed a lawsuit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Thursday. Clark County and Las Vegas joined the suit.

The lawsuit alleges the NRC had no legal authority to change the rules it will apply to the proposed nuclear waste repository. The NRC rules were adopted in November.

State officials say the Energy Department and NRC changed the rules laid out by Congress when lawmakers directed the deparmtent to bury nuclear waste in a site that isolates the waste and deadly radiation using primarily geologic features.

Congress has not approved the new rules.

Nevada officials say the agencies intend, under their new rules, to rely more on engineered, man-made barriers such as steel waste containers, rather than natural rock.

The point is important because Nevada officials argue that Yucca Mountain's natural features are not adequate to isolate the waste from humans and the environment for thousands of years.

The state filed a similar suit against the Energy Department in December. Several other lawsuits are pending, including one against the Environmental Protection Agency over its radiation standards rules.

Nevada will leave no stone unturned in its attempt to remind the nation why a Yucca repository is a bad idea, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said in a written statement.

NRC officials have not reviewed the lawsuit, spokeswoman Sue Gagner said today.

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