Newspaper insert touts fight against Yucca

Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2003 | 11:25 a.m.

The issue of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository is not a done deal, Clark County officials hope to convince residents with a advertising insert in today's newspapers.

The Clark County Nuclear Waste Division, which has for years fought the federal proposal to dump 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste in the mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, included the 12-page insert in 150,000 copies of local newspapers today.

Erik Muller, the division's public information officer, said it is important to let the public know that, despite the approval by Congress and President Bush last year, the dump is not a done deal.

"It has been out of the public eye for some time now," Muller said. "We wanted to remind the public that it is still a pressing issue."

The Energy Department still has to file an application to build the dump with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a process that should conclude next year. The repository could take another four years to get approval and two years to build.

Muller said the licensing process will probably include more public hearings on the dump, hearings that the county would like residents to attend.

Meanwhile, the state is trying to block the dump in federal court. Oral arguments for the state's lawsuits are scheduled this fall.

"A lot of people think it's a done deal," Muller said. "There's a lot of misinformation out there."

The insert cost $12,000, Muller said, and is paid for through the county nuclear waste fund, which gets money from the DOE .

Federal law requires the DOE to provide funding to state and local government affected by the planned dump for local monitoring of the process. That came to $1.68 million last year, Muller said.

In May DOE inspectors found that Clark, Nye and Lincoln counties misspent $3.3 million of the federal oversight money on lobbying, lawsuit research and other activities not allowed.

About $33,000 is still disputed and will be resolved through continuing discussions between the DOE and Clark County, said Harry Kelman, a Clark County division staffer.

Energy Department spokeswoman Toni Chiri, in Las Vegas, said the ultimate decision on what is, and is not, appropriate use of the federal funding can be a long process.

She noted, however, that the material included in the insert did not appear to be controversial.