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State defends right to sue over Yucca

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada officials are challenging the Energy Department's argument that the state has no grounds to sue to stop the Yucca Mountain project.

The project ultimately could make the desert site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas a permanent burial ground for the nation's high-level nuclear waste.

The state last month filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit designed to halt the DOE project.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman last week filed a petition on behalf of the city, Clark County and state that asked the court to order Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to delay his impending recommendation to President Bush about the Yucca site.

Among the state's arguments: that DOE "radically" changed the rules in December to make it easier to deem Yucca a safe site to bury waste. State officials say the DOE now relies too much on man-made materials like metal waste containers to keep radiation from escaping into the environment.

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