Del Papa vows fight in courts against Yucca

Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2002 | 10:52 a.m.

RENO -- Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said today the next 18 months are critical in the state's fight to stop the construction of a high-level nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain.

Del Papa's comments came at the conclusion of a strategy meeting with the private attorneys hired to push the state's five suits in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

The suits should come to fruition in the next year and a half, said Del Papa, who added that construction of the repository at Yucca Mountain is "not a done deal."

She was to make similar comments at a press conference with the legal team later today in Reno. The press conference was expected to reflect a briefing held in Las Vegas earlier this year at a meeting of the state Commission on Nuclear Projects.

Del Papa said she is more confident than ever that the state will be successful in blocking the repository. It takes only one successful lawsuit to derail the Energy Department, she said.

"Every one of our cases is strong on legal merits, and we believe absolutely that this is the right thing to do," Del Papa said. "Yucca is not science, nor is it a mountain. It is an open-air container farm on a seismic ridgeline. It is unsafe at any price."

The state's past efforts in the courts have gained little success. The state has won only one or two of the more than eight lawsuits it has filed.

Nevada's new private legal team is made up of nuclear engineers, nuclear physicists, former nuclear industry regulators and constitutional law experts.

The meeting between Del Papa and the private attorneys has refined the legal strategy and explored at new avenues, she said. The state probably will file at least one more lawsuit, but that is not ready yet, she said.

The state also plans to fight the Energy Department's efforts to get a permit to build the dump from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"The heart of the dispute over Yucca Mountain is no longer politics, but safety," Joe Egan, the lead lawyer in the state's effort, said. "Well, we intend to hold the NRC fully accountable for meeting the letter and spirit of the law."

The state still has a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas over water use. No date has been set for hearing that complaint.