Alaska GOP rep wary of nuclear traffic

Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2002 | 9:57 a.m.

The nuclear energy industry may have to clear yet another hurdle before radioactive waste can be shipped to Nevada.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said Monday that he is concerned about using the rails and roads to bring the waste to the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"I am closer to opposing it than ever before," said Young, who voted for the 1987 bill that proposed the site as the permanent repository for 77,000 tons of the nation's high-level radioactive waste.

Young, in Las Vegas for a presentation on transportation priorities from local officials, said he may hold hearings to gather information and alert people that the nuclear waste could travel through their states, towns and cities.

He predicted that as people become aware of transportation issues, they will oppose using Yucca Mountain.

"People are unaware in other states," Young said. "When they find out this is coming through their back yards, they're going to be a little more concerned."

His turnaround on the issue comes because of the increasing population in Southern Nevada, which has doubled since the early 1980s, and the danger posed in transporting the waste through 43 states. Young also pointed out that Nevada has no nuclear power reactors.

"I have got sympathy for Nevada," he said. In 1987, "I think you got the short end of the stick."

Young said he has spoken with Gov. Kenny Guinn, a fellow Republican, on the issue.

Democrats have suggested that Bush administration support for Yucca Mountain could hurt the Republican in Nevada in next year's elections, but Guinn and other Republicans who attended Monday's transportation summit were quick to say that the issue is bipartisan.

State Sen. Jon Porter, R-Henderson, asked for help in identifying routes that would be used to bring nuclear waste to the Silver State.

"The federal government is not eager to talk about transportation routes," said Porter, who is running for the new 3rd Congressional District seat.