Hearings set on risks of shipping waste

Friday, March 22, 2002 | 11:03 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The House Transportation Committee will hold hearings on the risks of shipping nuclear waste to Nevada's Yucca Mountain, Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, was expected to announce today in Las Vegas.

Young reportedly is concerned about whether the nation's highly radioactive waste could safely be transported by truck and train through 43 states to Yucca Mountain. If Congress and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ultimately approve the nuclear waste repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the site could become a permanent burial ground for 77,000 tons of waste by the end of the decade.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., along with Republican congressional candidate Jon Porter, have urged Young to hold hearings. Berkley sits on the Transportation Committee. Young has discussed holding hearings in cities along likely waste transportation routes, but it was not clear early today how many hearings Young might hold, or where.

Young is in Las Vegas to meet with Porter, and to attend the 30th annual convention and awards ceremony of the Safari Club International, a hunting and wildlife group. The club tonight at the Paris Resort and Casino will honor Gibbons as Federal Legislator of the Year. Former President Bush is expected to attend.