Energy Department withdraws application for Yucca Mountain
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 | 3:23 p.m.
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The U.S. Department of Energy today filed an application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to withdraw its application for a license to build Yucca Mountain.
The agency filed the motion “with prejudice,” which means it believes the site is unsuitable and that it has no intention to reopen the license application process.
“This is great news for Nevadans and marks the final stage of a battle that I’ve fought since arriving in Congress,” Sen. Harry Reid said in a statement. “With the decision by President Obama to pursue the withdrawal of the license application and cut off funding, Nevadans can rest assured that they will not face dangers posed by nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain. Through the establishment of a Blue-Ribbon Commission, we will find a responsible solution to safely managing nuclear waste.”
The Energy Department has been planning to submit the filing for more than a month. The president has said since his election campaign days that he would cancel plans to build a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.
The state has fought the Energy Department’s plans for more than 20 years. It has concerns about the proposed facility’s proximity to the state’s economic hub, Las Vegas, which is about 90 miles from Yucca Mountain.
Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects Executive Director Bruce Breslow, who has long fought on behalf of Nevada, said that today’s filing was the most beautiful thing he’d seen, aside from his wife.
Congress could still overrule the DOE's decision, according to Marty Malsch, lead attorney for the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects.
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This is a sad, sad day for Nevada.
THANK GOD!!! YUCCA IS DEAD!!!
Ding dong, the witch is dead. Better to kill Yucca now than pour more fed funds down the world's largest rat hole.
It's only a shame it took this long for a president and DOE secretary to come to their senses and quit wasting tax dollars on something the nation never needed and no state wants within its borders. Great day for Nevada.
It's also a wake-up call for a few misinformed nuke fans in N. NV who keep floating fallacies about reprocessing nuke waste in the Nevada desert.
Oh oh... How will the "Yucca ain't dead, it's just resting" crowd handle this new truth-telling?
Now we need to shut down Nellis, We dont need their jobs ether. all they do is polute the air and attract criminals from California.
It will be back as soon as one term Obama leaves office...
I hope the feds don't want the billions of dollars spent in Nevada back.....not good. I wonder if the commies will let us store our waste at Chernobyl?
A few months ago, cargo came to the test site to decommission Russian nukes here.
Guess how they got here?
Thank you, President Obama, and a HUGE THANK YOU to Senator Reid!!!! Finally, FINALLY, we're done with Yucca! Take that, nuclear industry. :-D
Thank you mr. reed! Hooray! Now I can sleep tonight cause my kids will work night shift at the casino to with me! I luv mr. reed and will vote for him! He will make sure the union keeps a job for me and my kids. They don't need to go to hi school or unlv...the union will get them jobs at the casino to. Mr. reed will help me stay in my house. Go mr. reed! My kids dont want to glow in the dark!!! See...drinkin all that tainted water from the lake made me as smart as mr. reed and all the other demcrats here!!!
Let the lawsuits roll
The FOIA requests will show how supid and illegal this act is.
This was done for only one purpose to allow Reid to campaign in 2010
This will not be a winning agrument in federal Court.
The Sun mistates "The agency filed the motion "with prejudice," which means it believes the site is unsuitable"
That filing does not mean the site is unsuitable - it means they want to try to prevent a future refiling. It means they do not want to get the positive results of the NRC.
Every action taken be the political Reid and Obama digs a hole that the Federal court will reject.
Hey it just our money - by the way where is our $22 billion which has to be refunded
That is really great for Nevada. All Southern Nevadans can now sleep at night knowing that a nuclear explosion won't happen in our backyards. It also sends a signal that Nevada is not a waste dump for other states (or persons) to exploit. Next on the agenda: kick the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) out of our Great State. BLM land belongs to the people of Nevada.
The naysayers used to have a common refrain:
"He'll never fulfill his promise to Nevada!"
"He can't withdraw the application!"
Choke on it, naysayers.
"Congress could still overrule the DOE's decision, according to Marty Malsch, lead attorney for the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects."
We will see what November brings...
Herr Fuhrer Obama has decided that Yucca Mountain is not suitable.
Herr Senator Reid is probably blackmailing all other states via funding cut threats.
Herr Obermeister Sekretary Chu is just following directions.
So much for American law and the US Constitution.
It will be interesting to see if the US legal system has any backbone to standup to rampant McCarthyism.
BTW what stupid reasoning in the lawsuit:
2010: Science has improved in the last 20 years and it should be re-looked at by a Blue Ribbon Commission.
2030: Science has improved in the last 20 years and it should be re-looked at by a Blue Ribbon Commission.
2050: Science has improved in the last 20 years and it should be re-looked at by a Blue Ribbon Commission.
2070: Science has improved in the last 20 years and it should be re-looked at by a Blue Ribbon Commission.
2090: Science has improved in the last 20 years and it should be re-looked at by a Blue Ribbon Commission.
2110: Science has improved in the last 20 years and it should be re-looked at by a Blue Ribbon Commission.
2130: Science has improved in the last 20 years and it should be re-looked at by a Blue Ribbon Commission.
2150: Science has improved in the last 20 years and it should be re-looked at by a Blue Ribbon Commission.
etc etc etc
Either make a decision NOW or shut down nuclear power plants.
Yucca Mountain will be a repository for spent nuclear fuel. Not right now but someday in the very near future. This is all just hugga mugga to get Reid re-elected. Just eyewash that's all. Just like Jesus it will rise from the dead.
Republicans are slow learners.
YUCCA IS DEAD.
THANK YOU HARRY REID.
This nuclear waste and Yucca Mountain issue has been used by Reid to get re-elected several times. But this election year, even if he successfully kill the project, it will not matter to many voters. Yucca Mountain is the least of our worries. The economy should be the primary focus of our existing leadership and not even the health care reform issue will overshadow the pressing need of many people to have a secured job without fear of getting laid off and be able to pay our mortgage and provide food to our family. Too much squabblings, politickings, back door dealings, manipulating, bribing to advance their own selfish political interests are causing many people to lose faith in our existing elected leaders.
Thank You Mr. Teamster and much thank you to Senator Harry Reid" Anyone the least bit knowledgeable in nuclear chemistry would not want a waste dump proximal to where his or her family lives. Now, it's time to return that land back over to The State of Nevada (BLM land too). Perhaps, we could make it a museum demonstrating what could go wrong under certain circumstances like platonic shift movement or being on a fault line.
Platonic shift?
maybe tectonic already.
The only fault line in this piece is teamster
Haha. I thought Republicans didn't like "activist judges". They whine about nonexistent "liberal activist judges", but have no problem filing frivolous law suits daring the courts to make up random sh*t to justify shoving Yucca down our throats.
It's done. It's over. Get over it.
And btw, get ready to get out the radioactive Kleenex when Harry Reid defeats the pro-Yucca, pro-toxic-dump Repukes.
yes. that was a typo i meant "tectonic" shift
Ignorance, lazy journalism, or deliberate deception?
"The agency filed the motion "with prejudice," which means it believes the site is unsuitable"?
NO, it means no such thing! Here's the fact: the filing makes no such statement. In fact, the motion gives no explanation beyond it not being "workable." That's code for "no good reason but base politics". In other words, the DOE still knows the site IS suitable, and yet they're acting counter to science and counter to the law.
People! Regardless which team you root for, the is a failure of government that ought to disturb everyone. Politics is not a sport, it matters.
The latest science makes Yucca Mountain
unsuitable.
YUCCA IS DEAD.
I can't wait for dat dere big Nuckler splosion ta happen. eeeeeedoggies
teamster: What "latest science"? Point us to the study published recently that says anything like this.
If it exists, why won't DOE tell anyone about this latest science that shows the site to be unsuitable? Read the DOE's motion. It says nothing about a scientific basis showing Yucca to be unsuitable. The NRC would have confirmed the real science, to politicians had to pull the plug before science showed their rhetoric of many years to be a deception.
The site IS suitable. This is political posturing manipulating ignorant people, at the expense of billions of dollars and postponing the solution of an important environmental problem. Our government is failing us here.
teamster is as full as a xmas goose.
Yucca Mnt will not save Harry this time. Nevada voters have finally figured it out. There is to much nuclear waste in to many states. The Congress will not let this happen. I think the fact that Obama is making funding available for nuclear power tells the real story. This is just window dressing for Harry, to keep him pacified. After the election and Harrys gone, it will be game on. The courts and lawyers will have this tied up till then.