Opposition scrambles as Yucca dump clears a hurdle

By Lisa Mascaro (contact)

Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007 | 7:20 a.m.

WASHINGTON - With the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project moving forward after clearing a major hurdle Wednesday, attention turns to whether Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can deliver the project a devastating blow.

Nevadans overwhelmingly oppose the planned nuclear waste dump 90 miles north of Las Vegas, and every Democratic presidential candidate has joined their opposition.

But a three-judge panel at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled Wednesday that the Yucca Mountain project's 3.5 million-document online library is complete - a necessary step that stalled the project three years ago when the panel ruled documents were missing. The ruling enables the Energy Department to proceed toward its June deadline to submit a license application for the project, which would be a milestone.

However, Reid, of Nevada, has been working behind the scenes to substantially reduce the project's budget in the final weeks of Congress. Already the Senate has chiseled $50 million off the Bush administration's $494.5 million request, and Reid is trying to cut more before Congress adjourns.

A more serious blow could hamper the work of the Energy Department, which says it needs every penny requested at this crucial stage to get its work done by summer.

"Obviously there are other options we are working on; the most immediate one is the funding cuts," said Reid spokesman Jon Summers.

An energy trade publication reported this month that Reid is trying to eliminate another $50 million from the project.

Even as support for a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain has cooled slightly in Washington and in the nuclear industry, the Energy Department is aggressively working to meet its June deadline. The project's director issued a statement saying Wednesday's ruling enables it "to move forward as planned."

Creating a document collection for the Yucca Mountain project was required by Congress to give those opposing the depository access to the millions of pages of scientific reports, studies, maps and other materials in mounting their legal challenges.

Although Nevada's attorneys claimed in last week's hearing that vital reports remain unavailable, the commission said in its two-page ruling they can be added later.

Bob Loux, the head of the state agency battling the federal government, acknowledged the loss, but said the state was reviewing its options for an appeal.

Opponents are now looking to other avenues to halt the dump:

But passing Wednesday's hurdle is as much a psychological accomplishment as a practical one for advancing the project from where it had last stalled.

John Kelley, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry trade group supporting the Nevada dump, said: "There's no question about it - it was a good day for Yucca Mountain."