Ensign’s hearing on Yucca routes canceled

Suzanne Struglinski

Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2004 | 9:46 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has canceled the Senate hearing about routes for transportation of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain that had been planned for next week in Las Vegas.

Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said the hearing was no longer needed in the wake of the Energy Department's Dec. 23 announcement that it preferred the Caliente route through rural Nevada as the main railroad corridor to move nuclear waste.

The Energy Department plans to store 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves the site, the department will have to move waste from commercial nuclear power plants and department storage site across the country to Nevada.

Finn said earlier in December that the senator planned to hold a hearing on Jan. 13 to consider the effect that nuclear waste shipments to the potential Yucca Mountain storage site could have on Nellis Air Force Base.

The Air Force has expressed concerns on proposed transportation routes disturbing training exercises at Nellis or its training range.

Finn said that as a senator from Nevada and as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee, Ensign would still watch the issue, but this specific hearing probably will not be rescheduled.