***************************************************************** 02/16/02 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 10.41 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** NUCLEAR POLICY 1 US: NRC Wants Tighter Security At Plants 2 South Korea, Vietnam sign atomic energy agreement 3 Nuclear safety should be key to EU entry 4 US: Our Nukes Are Safe 5 US: SRS considered for nuclear plant 6 US: Nuclear power plant considered for Idaho NUCLEAR SAFETY 7 Germany wants thorough, open explanation of accidents at Czech 8 Thieves steal dangerously radioactive ampoules from Russian plant 9 US: N-plant owners say leak poses no danger to workers 10 Russian nuclear sites "lack security": deputy, ecology activists NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 11 US: Bury the Nation's Nuclear Waste in Nevada, Bush Says 12 US: Nev. Gov Guinn: Refusing to Take Nuclear Waste 13 DKIT students joint protest outside Sellafield 14 Home News: 11 arrested at Sellafield demonstration 15 US: Bush agrees nuclear dump site in desert 16 Bulgaria: Kozloduy plant to store spent nuclear fuel in Russia 17 Russian nuclear storage insecure, says Duma deputy 18 US: Sen. Harry Reid slams Bush for Yucca decision 19 US: Bush Poised to "Trash" Campaign Promise on Nuclear Waste Dump 20 US: Bush OKs Nuclear Waste Site 21 US: Nuclear Dump in Nev. Gets Bush OK 22 US: Bush Backs Nevada Nuclear Waste Site, Senate Democrats Object 23 US: Bush endorses Nevada nuclear waste facility 24 US: N-waste site chosen; battle ahead 25 US: Constellation Energy Group Applauds President Bush's Acceptance 26 US: Prairie Island Indian Community Applauds President Bush's 27 US: Detroit Edison Supports Bush Yucca Mountain Recommendation 28 US: ENSIGN SAYS "IT AIN’T OVER `TIL IT'S OVER"; FIGHT MUST GO ON 29 US: Nevada Balks at Bush Nuke Decision 30 US: Gephardt Statement on Administration's Yucca Mountain Decision 31 US: Nevada governor pledges to veto president's Yucca Mountain plan 32 US: Gore says Bush broke promise on Yucca Mountain 33 US: Nevada sues, governor pledges veto over Yucca Mountain plan 34 US: Outcry in Nevada Over Nuke Waste 35 US: Safety of shipping radioactive waste to Nevada debated 36 Russian Nuclear Sites Unguarded 37 US: Commission Grants White Mesa Hearing 38 US: Utah Site Foes Call Approval Of Yucca Waste a Bitter Pill 39 US: Plan for transporting nuclear waste to Yucca raises concerns 40 US: Mayor urges casino interests to end 'eerie silence' on issue 41 US: Yucca: Union officials see harm in long run 42 US: YuccaL CONGRESSIONAL RESPONSE: Lawmakers react on political part 43 US: Real estate agents say decision won't affect LV housing market 44 US: NUCLEAR WASTE REPOSITORY: Bush backs Yucca plan 45 US: LETTER FROM BUSH TO HOUSE, SENATE 46 US: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: OFFICIAL COMMENTS 47 US: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: LOCAL COMMENTS 48 US: Bush Greenlights Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Dump 49 US: Yucca: Some scientists, environmentalists say decision premature 50 US: Yucca: Charo sends Bush video message 51 US: Sununu 'very impressed' with work done at Yucca 52 US: Nevada governor pledges to veto president's Yucca Mountain plan 53 US: Lawmakers say Yucca challenge will be tough 54 US: Bush OKs Yucca Mountain in Nevada for storing nuclear waste 55 US: Nevada Nuclear Waste Site Affirmed 56 US: Yucca: Nuclear waste disposal 57 US: Nuclear Dump Decision Concerns Missouri Leaders 58 US: Nuclear Dump in Nev. Gets Bush OK 59 US: Nevada fights nuclear dump site / State sues over Bush plan to 60 US: Gov. Guinn will veto President Bush's Yucca Mountain decision 61 US: Berkley Lambastes Abraham Yucca Recommendation 62 US: Gibbons Statement on President Bush’s Decision to Approve Site 63 US: Questions linger about safety of nuclear shipments through 64 US: Safety of shipping radioactive waste to Nevada debated 65 US: Bush Endorses Nevada's Yucca as Nuclear Waste Site (web links) 66 US: Vermont Yankee CEO praises Bush decision on Yucca Mountain 67 US: IEER: President Bush Makes Historic, But Wrong, Choice on Nuclea NUCLEAR WEAPONS 68 Editorial: Bush must remember China's record 69 Russians deny claims of missile information leaks 70 US, Pak to resume N-dialogue ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 NRC Wants Tighter Security At Plants TheDay.com: Commission to issue orders in face of 'high-level' terrorism threat By Paul Choiniere - More Articles Published on 02/16/2002 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has informed nuclear plants across the country that it will soon issue orders to implement additional security measures because of a “high-level threat environment.” The “compensatory security measures” will include additional personnel at access points to nuclear plants; enhanced training requirements for guard forces; greater stand-off distances for the searching of vehicles approaching nuclear facilities; and heightened coordination with appropriate local, state and federal authorities, the commission announced. President Bush disclosed during his State of the Union Address that diagrams of American nuclear power plants had been found among the items left behind by fleeing terrorists in Afghanistan. Security was boosted at the Millstone Nuclear Power Station in Waterford following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. More security guards were hired, checkpoints were set up on the road leading to the plant, and for a time National Guard troops were brought in to assist the security force. “We have been at a heightened sense of awareness since Sept. 11 and we have not relaxed that in any manner,” said Pete Hyde, a spokesman for Millstone. He said Millstone is prepared to work with the NRC on any additional security steps it feels are necessary. When National Guard troops left an increased security force replaced them, he said. The commission said it was preparing to issue the security order in part “because the generalized high-level threat environment has persisted longer than expected.” It is time, the commission decided, to make greater security part of the “established regulatory framework.” Of particular concern at nuclear plants has been nuclear waste –– in the form of spent nuclear fuel –– that is highly radioactive and stored in pools located in buildings that are outside the specially reinforced reactor domes. A strike on one of these buildings comparable to the Sept. 11 attacks could cause a major disaster with widespread radiation contamination. Critics said that more dramatic steps are needed than the ones the NRC has announced. “Unfortunately neither the White House nor the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has taken protective measures commensurate with the threat or with the unthinkable consequences of a successful attack on one of these plants,” said Paul Leventhal, president of the Nuclear Control Institute. “U.S. nuclear power plants need immediate military protection –– the placement of National Guard troops or other military forces in sufficient numbers to provide a visible show of force and a credible deterrent against attack from the land, air or water,” he said. “Anti-aircraft weapons, under strict rules of engagement and command and control, also are needed as a last-resort measure in the event fighter interceptors cannot catch up with a jumbo jet headed for a suicidal hit on a plant.” The Connecticut Nuclear Energy Advisory Council also has recommended the use of anti-aircraft weapons outside nuclear plants. There was no indication from the NRC that that is planned. Hyde said the increased threat of terrorism is among the most important reasons to create a central location at Yucca Mountain in Nevada where nuclear waste can be stored. President Bush on Friday endorsed a Department of Energy recommendation to locate a repository at Yucca Mountain, but the proposal still faces a long battle in Congress and perhaps in the courts to gain final approval. p.choiniere@theday.com © 1998-2002 The Day Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 2 South Korea, Vietnam sign atomic energy agreement BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 16, 2002 Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap Seoul, 16 February: The Ministry of Science & Technology said Saturday [16 February] it has signed an agreement with the Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission (VAEC) to promote exchanges of human resources, information and business projects on atomic energy. The Korea Atomic Research Institute (KERI) and its Vietnamese counterpart currently work together in the fields of design, construction and usage of reactors, production and usage of radioisotopes, and radioactive waste treatment and management. Korea and Vietnam formed a joint science-technology committee in 1996. Source: Yonhap news agency, Seoul, in English 0217 gmt 16 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 3 Nuclear safety should be key to EU entry (02/16/2002) (Agencies) The security of nuclear energy plants should be a pre-requisite for countries who wish to join the European Union, European Energy Commissioner Loyola De Palacio said on Friday. "Some countries like the Czech Republic have made great efforts to put their plants in line with EU standards but other countries have not. I believe that security should be one of the pre-conditions for EU entry," De Palacio said during a visit to the Italian parliament. The EU is promoting nuclear energy in an effort to diminish its growing dependency on imported oil and gas, and to meet the terms of the 1997 Kyoto Treaty on greenhouse gases. The commissioner conceded there were concerns on the risks linked to nuclear waste storage and processing but said researchers were finding ways to reduce the problem, which has been at the centre of environmentalist protests worldwide. "EU plants are not risky...but the problem for us at the moment is represented by EU candidate states...We are negotiating with those countries how to guarantee security," De Palacio said. The EU has said it wants to conclude entry negotiations with up to 10 mainly central and eastern European countries by the end of this year, so that the first could join the bloc in 2004. Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Slovenia, Estonia, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania and Malta could wrap up entry talks by the end of 2002 in time to join the bloc in 2004. Romania and Bulgaria are expected to join later. The commissioner said the EU was preparing a programme to re-launch nuclear energy in the 15-nation bloc in an effort to defuse a dependency on oil imports. "Unless we intervene quickly, the bloc will import 70 percent of its energy needs in 2020 and 90 percent of the supply will be composed of petroleum," she said. De Palacio said that she respected the decision of some European countries, such as Italy, to ban nuclear energy from their territory. Italian Industry Minister Antonio Marzano said the government had no intention to move against a 1987 referendum that banished nuclear energy but continued to finance research on the subject. Copyright 2002 By chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 4 Our Nukes Are Safe (washingtonpost.com) Saturday, February 16, 2002; Page A24 The anti-nuclear group Project on Government Oversight recently raised disturbing questions about security at the nation's nuclear weapons facilities [news story, Jan. 23]. Its report is basically a recitation of old issues that have been corrected; our weapons and our nuclear material are secure. By incorrectly identifying or overstating security concerns, the report needlessly and dangerously suggests an attacker or terrorist could have a chance of success, potentially creating danger where none exists. Our forces are large, well trained and well equipped. They are tested by an independent organization within the Department of Energy, often using elite military units to simulate hostile attacks. Frequently these forces are tested "to failure" -- akin to changing the rules in the middle of the game to put our defenders at a disadvantage -- so that we can find weaknesses and correct them. Our chief goal in testing our security is to stay ahead of any adversaries who would try to outsmart our defenses. The sites that store weapons and material are the most highly protected in the nation. They are not places a terrorist could attack with any real expectation of success. JOHN GORDON Administrator National Nuclear Security Administration Washington © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 5 SRS considered for nuclear plant Augusta Georgia: SRS is 1 of 3 on list Web posted Saturday, February 16, 2002 By Brandon Haddock [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] Staff Writer Savannah River Site is one of three nuclear-weapons sites being considered as a location for a new nuclear-power plant. U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced Friday that the site was being evaluated in Nuclear Power 2010, a federal initiative to build a new plant by that year. "We have set an ambitious target for this important work, but one that is achievable," Mr. Abraham said in a statement. President Bush's budget proposal for fiscal year 2003 includes $38.5 million for the effort, the secretary said. Besides SRS, the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory and the Portsmouth site in Ohio are in the running, Mr. Abraham said. Privately held sites also will be evaluated, he said. Local SRS supporters lauded the announcement. "It fits right in with the nuclear infrastructure in the area and takes full advantage of it," said Ernest S. Chaput, special-projects coordinator for the Aiken-Edgefield Economic Development Partnership. "It's something we think is well suited for the area, as well as something that's long overdue." But some observers said the proposal smacked of pork-barrel spending. "Nuclear power should stand on its own two feet and not look for a government handout," said Tom Clements, the executive director of the Nuclear Control Institute in Washington, D.C. "It's a bit shocking that the Energy Department would be paying for this," he said. "It looks like a subsidy to the nuclear-power industry that the government shouldn't be doling out." "I would think this would be questioned in Congress by fiscal conservatives on one side and those who question nuclear power on the other." The Energy Department has hired two nuclear utilities, Exelon and Dominion Resources, to conduct studies at the proposed sites. Reach Brandon Haddock at (706) 823-3409 or bhaddock@augustachronicle.com [bhaddock@augustachronicle.com] . 1996 - 2002 The Augusta Chronicle. ***************************************************************** 6 Nuclear power plant considered for Idaho News | KTVB.COM | Idaho News, Weather & SportsKTVB.COM | FEBRUARY 15, 2002, 02:15 PM Associated Press INEEL The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory near Idaho Falls might be the site of a proposed nuclear power plant. The Bush administration wants to spend $38 million on a joint government-industry project studying whether a new commercial plant can be built on federal land. The Energy Department plan envisions completing a new reactor by 2010. The other sites to be studied are in South Carolina and Ohio. The last time an American utility sought a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a new reactor was 1973. Several plants were scrapped after construction began. But in recent years, there has been a nuclear revival, with several companies indicating that they may submit a license for a new reactor in the next year or so. © 2002 The Associated Press. KTVB.COM ***************************************************************** 7 Germany wants thorough, open explanation of accidents at Czech nuclear plant BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 15, 2002 Berlin, 15 February: German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin today asked Prague to provide a comprehensive and open explanation of numerous accidents which had accompanied the start-up of the new Czech nuclear power plant Temelin since October 2000. The series of accidents has reached another climax, Trittin said, referring to Temelin's latest accident last week, when, he said, the whole Temelin block had faced a very "serious situation", though no radioactivity leaked. The Czech authorities in charge of nuclear energy must now immediately re-asses the plant's equipment and check the security regulations followed by Temelin's operator, the CEZ company, in order to uncover the causes of the accidents and take necessary steps, Trittin said. Until then it would be irresponsible to start Temelin's operation, he said. According to Trittin, it is necessary to examine the quality of the Temelin management, as several safety systems have failed despite having been checked. "I've several times asked the Czech government to prevent Temelin from being launched in view of the doubts concerning its safety. The latest and serious accident has justified my demand," Trittin said. The limitation system of the Temelin plant shut down the first unit of the plant on 7 February, during one of the regular tests of electric equipment. Unlike previous accidents, this was called "quite a serious technical problem" by the State Authority for Nuclear Safety (SUJB) Chairwoman Dana Drabova... Source: CTK news agency, Prague, in English 1600 gmt 15 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 8 Thieves steal dangerously radioactive ampoules from Russian plant BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 14, 2002 Text of report in English by Russian AVN Military News Agency web site Moscow, 14 February: Two Kripton-85 radiation sources have been stolen from the Polimerplenka [polymer film] enterprise located in the Verkhnedneprovsk village 100 km east of Smolensk, a spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Thursday [14 February]. "Each source contains an ampoule with radioactive gas and its emission makes 230 millicurie, which is enough for a person to get a lethal dose quickly," the spokesman said. A ministry expert said, "the radiation level of shells with depleted uranium cores on which the global mass media reported after the NATO operation in Yugoslavia makes some 3.4 millicurie. At the same time each core surface emits some 1,000 alpha particles and 36,000 beta particles per second." According to the expert, the emission norm of three millicurie is considered safe. An even slightly heavier dose badly affects a sensible [tangible] part of the population. The ministry reported that the prosecutor's office of Smolensk Region had launched a criminal case to investigate the theft of the sources. Specialists of the Emergencies Ministry are taking part in the search, too. Source: AVN Military News Agency web site, Moscow, in English 0941 gmt 14 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 9 N-plant owners say leak poses no danger to workers Buffalo News - WHITE PLAINS (AP) - Just hours before local leaders gathered to discuss a medicine for radiation sickness, the owners of the Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant revealed a tiny leak of radioactive coolant that has been going on for months. Officials stressed Thursday that the radioactivity is not escaping the plant and is far below the level that would endanger anyone inside. Jim Steets, a spokesman for Entergy Corp., said sensors detected radioactivity in what is supposed to be clean water that is converted to steam by passing over tubes of superheated radioactive water. However, activists who have been campaigning to close the plant and its twin, Indian Point 3, in Buchanan, said the leak is the latest proof of the danger of nuclear reactors in such a densely populated area as the New York suburbs. Later Thursday, Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano convened about 150 municipal, police and school leaders to discuss a draft plan for distributing potassium iodide, which can help fight one form of radiation sickness, in the area around Indian Point. Copyright © 1999 - 2002 The Buffalo NewsTM ***************************************************************** 10 Russian nuclear sites "lack security": deputy, ecology activists 15-Feb-2002 8:32AM Story from AFP Copyright 2002 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet) MOSCOW, Feb 15 (AFP) - Greenpeace activists and deputies of the liberal Yabloko party denounced Friday a "lack of security" at Russia's nuclear plants, saying they had penetrated one site in Siberia without difficulty. Yabloko deputy Sergei Mitrokhin told reporters that last Saturday he and two Russian activists with the Western-based environmental protection group had entered a secret plant at Zheleznogorsk, near the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, where more than 3,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel are stocked. "I was shocked by what I saw. Anyone can approach the site which contains dangerous materials and do whatever they want. I dread to image what could have happened if a group of terrorists did what we did," he said. Mitrokhin refused to name the Greenpeace activists, who he said had been accompanied by a television crew from the NTV channel, citing a wave of spy trials in Russia, including one against military journalist Grigory Pasko for reporting on the dumping of nuclear waste at sea by the Russian navy. Greenpeace official Vladimir Chuprov said the lack of a security system at Zheleznogorsk could cause "a catastrophe similar to Chernobyl" in the event of a terrorist attack. Chernobyl, in northern Ukraine, is the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in April 1986, caused by the explosion of a reactor. The disaster caused the deaths of between 15,000 and 30,000 people. ***************************************************************** 11 Bury the Nation's Nuclear Waste in Nevada, Bush Says February 16, 2002 By MATTHEW L. WALD Monica Almeida/The New York Times A view from atop Yucca Mountain in Nevada, overlooking Yucca Valley. President Bush approved the Energy Department's recommendation to store the nation's radioactive waste under the mountain. In Depth White House WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 — President Bush said today that a 57-year accumulation of nuclear waste from power plants and weapons should be buried in the Nevada desert at Yucca Mountain, declaring that an end to the 40-year search for a place to isolate radioactive waste was necessary to "protect public safety, health and the nation's security." Opponents said his decision, coming less than 24 hours after the step was recommended by the Energy Department, represented a rush into a project that could have consequences for hundreds of thousands of years. The repository, including details of the packaging and the layout of storage tunnels, has not been designed yet, and many scientific and engineering studies are still under way. The designation starts a clock that will require the Energy Department to apply for a construction license by the end of the year, but the department probably will not be ready. First, though, the president's action puts the issue before Congress under a system set up in 1982 after what had already been a 20-year search. What was seen in 1982 as a 16-year plan for finding a location and opening a repository is entering its 20th year and seems likely to last for at least 10 more. If the Yucca proposal, which is still largely undefined, survives Congress, it will move to the courts, where Nevada has two separate challenges under way already, and to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will have to decide whether to issue a license to let the Energy Department build the repository and, later, bury waste there. Opponents are seeking to focus the debate on transportation and are predicting that the amount of waste to be moved will fill nearly 100,000 trucks. Trying to defuse that emerging argument, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in a telephone conference call with reporters today that despite the risk of terrorism, moving the material to Yucca was "safe in comparison to leaving this waste where it is." The waste is at power plants and weapons factories scattered around the country, including some places that are no longer active industrial plants. Putting it on the road or rails briefly is better than leaving it as a sitting target, Mr. Abraham said. And he pointed out that several utilities were trying to rent space on an Indian reservation near Salt Lake for what he called a "makeshift" storage area, which would also involve transportation. But approval of Yucca Mountain as the site for the waste is far from certain, and the Energy Department, Mr. Abraham acknowledged, is months at least from being ready to apply for an operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as outlined in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. Under that law, the presidential designation first puts the ball in Nevada's court, but the Nevada governor, Kenny Guinn, immediately issued a statement saying he would object. "I am outraged," Mr. Guinn said, "as are the citizens of Nevada, that this decision would go forward with so many unanswered questions." The state immediately filed suit in United States District Court here. Senator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada, said the Energy Department "has been hellbent on shoving waste into our backyard, regardless of what science and common sense show." The other Nevada senator, Harry Reid, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said Mr. Bush had "betrayed our trust" by not relying on science, as he promised he would in a campaign stop in Nevada. Nevada has 60 days to object, and then the question goes to Congress. Yucca Mountain was chosen by Congress in 1987 on a largely bipartisan vote. Lately, however, despite Governor Guinn's position, Yucca Mountain is developing as a partisan issue, with the Democrats seeking to portray it as another assault by the Bush administration on the environment and the Republicans arguing that its selection fills a federal obligation to take the waste, cuts risk and improves energy security, too, by allowing the nuclear industry to keep operating. Speaker J. Dennis Hastert said, "After two decades of study, we know this remote location beneath the Nevada desert is a safe, secure and viable site." Mr. Hastert added, "Americans deserve the peace of mind that spent nuclear fuel will be consolidated into one secure location rather than scattered across the country in over 130 various sites." Some experts took issue with that position. Arjun Makhijani, the president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, said that moving the waste from the reactors would not cut risk by much if the reactors kept running, as many are now doing under license extensions recently granted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "It's a shame that the president didn't even take 24 hours on a decision that's the most momentous decision, in terms of time frame, that's ever been made by a president," Mr. Makhijani said. Representative Richard A. Gephardt, the House Democratic leader, said, "The politics and the needs of corporate energy interests seem to be at the heart of this decision." Al Gore, the former vice president, said President Bush "did the opposite of what he solemnly pledged to the people of Nevada that he would do" when Mr. Bush was running against Mr. Gore in the presidential campaign. But John Sununu, the former governor of New Hampshire and the White House chief of staff in the Reagan administration, now lobbying on behalf of the United States Chamber of Commerce, said, "The president made the correct call in recognizing the evidence that supports the designation of Yucca Mountain. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information ***************************************************************** 12 Nev. Gov Guinn: Refusing to Take Nuclear Waste February 16, 2002 By KENNY GUINN CARSON CITY, Nev. Yesterday, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham finally forwarded to the White House his plan for high-level nuclear waste disposal: Put it all in Yucca Mountain, a volcanic ridge 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. President Bush took just a few hours to send the plan on to Congress with his blessing. But like Sisyphus pushing his rock up the mountain only to have it crash back down, time and again, the Department of Energy can send its Yucca Mountain plan wherever it likes — and the plan will crash again. Why am I so sure? The Energy Department tends not to complete its more grandiose projects, even when they were based on sound science and common sense. This project is based on neither. When Congress ordered the Energy Department to study Yucca Mountain, it required that the site must be geologically sound: the stability of the repository would come from the geology of the site, providing a rock- solid backup to manmade waste containers. Today, after $7 billion and almost 20 years of study, the Energy Department's own contractor, Bechtel/ SAIC, as well as the General Accounting Office, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste, and the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board have each concluded that additional studies need to be performed. Those studies must be completed before Yucca Mountain could ever be seriously considered for permanent nuclear waste disposal. The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, which Congress created specifically to look at storage problems, said last month that the "technical basis" for the Energy Department's performance estimates "is weak to moderate." Last month the acting head of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, who has been working on the Yucca Mountain plan, seemed to agree, saying, "We think we have sufficient science for the step that we are at." That's the problem. The Energy Department has all along acted as though "the science" would always catch up with the politics, but the science is supposed to be the foundation upon which a decision to move forward is made. The Department of Energy has it backward — decision first, science later. The secretary of energy has also tried to link his Yucca Mountain recommendation to national security. This is an absurd invention of the nuclear industry and an opportunistic use of the tragedies of Sept. 11. Spent fuel will have to be stored at reactor sites across America for 50 years or more as it waits to be safely shipped, because even if the Yucca Mountain repository is approved and built, it will not be ready to receive most of the waste for decades. And should Yucca Mountain get up and running, much of the fuel will remain above ground for perhaps 100 years if the Energy Department sticks with its current plans for very gradual insertion of fuel into subterranean caverns. Meanwhile more nuclear waste will be produced around the country and continually sent out for hauling to Nevada, creating, in essence, a network of nuclear vulnerability throughout the nation, with one very big terrorist target 100 miles from one of the nation's fastest-growing cities. This is not a recipe for increased national security. Today nuclear power plants are building inexpensive and safe dry storage facilities of their own, at their plant sites, for their spent fuel. They will continue to do this whether or not Yucca Mountain proceeds. I was hopeful that President Bush would keep his promise to Nevada not to push the project forward absent a sound scientific basis. The president has let that opportunity go. Nevada will now pursue every means available to ensure that the laws of science and the nation ultimately prevail. I have, under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1987, 60 days in which to veto the recommendation. I will do so. The House and Senate leaders will then have 90 days to decide whether to override the veto by majority votes of each chamber. If the 90 days of consecutive session pass, then the veto stands. Nevada did not pick this fight, but we are determined to win it. Kenny Guinn is the governor of Nevada. Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information ***************************************************************** 13 DKIT students joint protest outside Sellafield Irish Newspapers - Sixteen students from Dundalk Institute of Technology were among a group of 200 Irish students who travelled to Cumbria this (Wednesday) morning to take part in a protest at Sellafield. The Dundalk group was organised by Joyce Power, a student of Environmental Science. Joyce is chairperson of the Institute's Environment Society and when she received notification of the Irish environmental group Gluiseacht that they were organising a protest at Sellafield she decided to see if any students from Dundalk were interested in taking part. "We took up a petition calling for the closure of Sellafield and collected 1,500 signatures in the Institute," said Joyce. The sixteen students left Dundalk at 7am this morning (Wednesday) to get a ferry from Dun Laoighaire. "We will be among a group of around 250 from Ireland and will be joining with a protesters from Fastlane in Scotland," she explained. They are going to stage a protest outside the Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Plant on Thursday, returning home on Friday. "I think this is a really important issue and the possible risks are brought home when you hear of the high numbers of miscarriages and clusters of cancer in this area," added Joyce, who is a native of Waterford. She believes that it is important to highlight the threat posed by Sellafield, which is only sixty miles away. "If the plant was blown up a huge area of Europe would be affected. We can't bury our heads in the sand. We must do something about it." © Copyright Unison ***************************************************************** 14 Home News: 11 arrested at Sellafield demonstration Irish Times; Feb 15, 2002 Eleven Irish people were arrested and detained by British police yesterday during a protest outside the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria. Those detained included five women and six men who were formally cautioned last evening before being set free. They are due home today. A spokesman for the police said 10 were arrested for highway obstruction and one for causing criminal damage to a road sign. He said they had blocked the main road outside the nuclear plant in a 'very disruptive' demonstration. It prevented many people, including train drivers and teachers, getting to work and a number of train services had to be cancelled, he said. He added that some of group had chained themselves together on the highway. The demonstration started at 6 a.m. and involved up to 120 Irish people who had travelled by bus from Limerick and Dublin for the protest, which was organised by a number of environmental groups, including Globalise Resistance and Gluaiseacht. Insp Paul Coulson said a formal caution meant those arrested now had a 'bad mark' against them which would be recorded on computer but they would not have a criminal record. All had been co-operative, he added. A spokesman for Globalise Resistance, Mr Joe Carolan, said last night the protests at Sellafield would continue. 'There are going to be hundreds of people involved in civil disobedience until the plant is closed down,' he said. 'We are just so sickened by the inaction of mainstream politicians on this issue. That is why young Irish people are now willing to highlight this case and take non-violent direct action. To allow Sellafield to continue to damage the health of people on the eastern seaboard is criminal and we don't feel we are breaking any laws,' he added. Meanwhile, a report of a review of energy options in the UK, presented to the British government yesterday, said action should be taken to retain nuclear-powered electricity plants. The report from the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU) was welcomed by British Nuclear Fuels. All Material Subject to Copyright ***************************************************************** 15 Bush agrees nuclear dump site in desert © 2002 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles 16 February 2002 President George Bush ploughed into fresh controversy on the environment yesterday by giving his approval to a plan to store 77,000 tons of nuclear waste under a mountain in the Nevada desert – a plan denounced by many scientists, former government officials and Nevada politicians as a serious security and contamination risk. He rubber-stamped a recommendation by his Energy Secretary, Spencer Abraham, who concluded last month that the site at Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles north-west of Las Vegas, was "scientifically sound and suitable". The government has spent 20 years looking for a suitable repository for the nation's nuclear energy industry, and a decision is already long overdue. Supporters of the President's decision say he had no choice given the mounting of volume of radioactive waste currently being stored at a number of makeshift sites around the country. Yucca Mountain is the only place remote enough, and surrounded by enough federally-owned land to be secure enough, they argue. Opponents of the scheme argue transporting waste to Yucca Mountain is dangerous in itself. They also fear contamination of groundwater or worse, because of the geology of the mountain and its position at the junction of seismic faults. Earlier this month, the former head of the Department of Energy's taskforce on the issue, John Bartlett, said the government had known since 1995 that the Yucca Mountain site posed contamination risks to major water sources in the American West. Tom Daschle, the Democratic Senate Majority Leader, has raised concerns about a waste dump's attractiveness as a terrorist target. In Nevada, Congressman Shelley Berkley denounced the decision as "corrupt and morally bankrupt". The mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman, called a news conference on Thursday and said of Mr Abraham: "I've called him a blockhead before, I've called him a fathead before. It's too good for him. That's it. Any questions?" ***************************************************************** 16 Bulgaria: Kozloduy plant to store spent nuclear fuel in Russia BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 15, 2002 Text of report by Bulgarian radio on 15 February Radio Deutsche Welle has reported that Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant paid 25m dollars to the Rossiya Mine-Chemical Combine in Zheleznogor for the storage of spent nuclear fuel. This represents 68 per cent of the amount the Kozloduy N-Plant owes. The Russian side announced that the first shipment, weighing 43 tonnes, was received last November from Bulgaria. Source: Bulgarian Radio, Sofia, in Bulgarian 1300 gmt 15 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 17 Russian nuclear storage insecure, says Duma deputy BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Feb 15, 2002 Text of report in English by Russian news agency Interfax Moscow, 15 February: Some Russian nuclear facilities are not duly protected, Russian State Duma deputy Sergey Mitrokhin of the Yabloko faction and members of Greenpeace Russia announced at a Friday [15 February] press conference at the Interfax main office. They told the press conference how they managed to enter through a "huge hole in a barbed wire fence" to the guarded territory of the mining chemical combine in the town of Zheleznogorsk in the Krasnoyarsk territory and "get right up to the walls" of a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel. The aggregate capacity of the fuel stored at this facility comes to 3bn curie units, the ecologists said. "Anybody can approach a storage full of very dangerous materials," Mitrokhin said, noting that the Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy plans to bring another 20 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel from abroad to the facility. Meanwhile, "several dozen kilos of explosives" is enough to destroy this storage facility. The participants in the event have sent a cassette showing them approaching the facility to the Russian president and Federal Security Service (FSB). "If Russia enters into combat with international terrorism, it should at least defend its rear," the ecologists said. Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English 1814 gmt 15 Feb 02 /BBC Monitoring/ © BBC. ***************************************************************** 18 Sen. Harry Reid slams Bush for Yucca decision Nevada Appeal February 16, 2002 U.S. Sen. Harry Reid addresses reporters Saturday at the top of Heavenly Ski Resort overlooking Lake Tahoe. Brian Corley photo by Susie Vasquez, Appeal Staff Writer Lashing out at President George Bush over the approval of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste dump, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Saturday that Bush's decision will be brought to bear on his presidency. He said 51 votes in the Senate and 218 votes in the House will be needed to defeat the measure in Congress. Many of those votes will be up for grabs in the wake of this decision, which Reid says will affect Bush's ratings and the outcome of elections in November. "This is not just Nevada's problem. It affects the whole country," Reid said "And it's a lie, as evidenced by the rush to judgment." The senator predicted that the decision to bury the nation's nuclear waste in Nevada will cost Bush votes. "He will lose seats in Nevada and all over the country," Reid said. "Every environmental group in the world is opposed to Yucca Mountain. He thinks he can make an announcement like this, leave the country and it will blow over. That won't work." Within 24 hours of receiving the recommendation from Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Bush rubber-stamped the document, then left for Asia on a diplomatic mission. Reid used Lake Tahoe as a backdrop Saturday to blast Bush's decision. "I thought this would be an appropriate place to talk about an issue that's important to me because this is where Bush came when he campaigned in Nevada," Reid said, standing on an observation deck at Heavenly Ski Resort. According to Reid, Bush knew he was behind in the polls during his 2000 presidential campaign, when he came out against a nuclear waste repository in Nevada. To gain votes, Bush ran TV ads assuring people he would not authorize a nuclear waste facility without "sound science." In a letter on Friday to congressional leaders, however, Bush said a central disposal site for the waste that is building up at locations across the country "is necessary to protect public safety, health and this nation's security." Reid scoffed at that declaration, saying the U.S. Department of Energy did not properly consider environmental impacts or the security risk posed by transporting the 77,000 tons of waste stockpiled at U.S. nuclear plants and defense facilities. Reid said transporting the waste won't necessarily ease the risk, because each nuclear plant will have a measure of nuclear waste and nuclear fuel. If Yucca is used to store waste, shipments will be in transit across the nation. In light of Bush's ties to the energy industry, Friday's decision may represent a precursor to future nuclear energy development, according to Reid. Reid also responded to former Gov. Robert List's opinion that instead of fighting the issue, officials should be trying to get the best deal possible for Nevadans. "If this is how he helps Nevada, tell him we don't need his help," Reid said. "Did Governor List show you his checkbook? I'm not impressed with anything he has to say." List works for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's lobbying arm. "The President put us in a hole and we will see what happens, after the governor vetoes the dump," Reid said. Following Bush's decision Friday, Gov. Kenny Guinn has 60 days to veto establishment of a nuclear dump in Nevada. He said he will meet with the congressional delegation to determine the best strategy concerning when that veto should be made. Congress has 90 days to override that veto. The Energy Department wants to start shipping 77,000 tons of waste to Yucca Mountain by 2010. The site is 90 miles north of Las Vegas. The project was initiated in 1982 by the Reagan administration. The Department of Energy has studied the mountain for 15 years and has spent about $8 billion on the project. Nevada Appeal News Service reporter Susan Wood contributed to this report. Copyright Nevada Appeal. Materials contained within this site may ***************************************************************** 19 Bush Poised to "Trash" Campaign Promise on Nuclear Waste Dump Public Citizen Feb. 15, 2002 Vow to Base Decision on ‘Sound Science’ Rings Hollow WASHINGTON, D.C. — President George W. Bush will be flip-flopping on a campaign promise and putting the public at risk if he accepts Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham’s recommendation to create a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, Public Citizen said today. During his presidential campaign, then-candidate Bush vowed that any decisions regarding the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain would be based not on politics but on "sound science." Evidence indicates that Abraham’s recommendation is based on nothing of the sort. White House sources have indicated Bush will accept Abraham’s recommendation and forward it to Congress. If he does, Bush -- whose presidential campaign received nearly $300,000 from the nuclear power industry according to the Center for Responsive Politics – will be putting politics first and turning his back on a campaign promise made to Nevadans and the nation. After spending years of study and billions of dollars, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has not been able to demonstrate that the proposed repository could safely contain nuclear waste. The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, concluded just weeks ago that a site recommendation at this time would be premature. Abraham’s recommendation to the White House shows blatant disrespect for public health, instead currying the favor of an industry that simply wants to get rid of its waste so it can make more of it. In his Feb. 14 letter to the president, the energy secretary, who received more than $80,000 from the nuclear industry in his unsuccessful bid for re-election to the Senate in 2000, says he is "convinced" that "sound science" supports his determination. He even claims that the presidentially appointed Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board supports his recommendation, although that same review board in fact has characterized the DOE’s scientific work at Yucca Mountain as "weak." "If the president were to stick by the promise he made during the campaign and base a decision on a thoughtful, deliberative consideration of the scientific reviews, he would flatly reject Abraham’s recommendation," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "If, as expected, the president embraces the recommendation, it means that Bush’s promise was as hollow as the tunnels the government has been drilling in the Nevada mountainside." Abraham’s recommendation also includes the absurd claim that putting thousands of tons of deadly nuclear waste on trucks and trains and moving it all over the country would enhance national security. Even if the Yucca dump is opened, irradiated fuel has to "cool" for at least five years before it can be transported. So as long as nuclear reactors are operating, there will still be tons of nuclear waste at reactor sites. Transporting waste doesn’t reduce the number of potential radioactive targets, but vastly increases it because each shipment becomes a target. The waste would be transported through 44 states and the District of Columbia, putting millions of people at risk. "The residents of those communities have had no opportunity to tell the president what they think of having the nation’s most deadly radioactive materials shipped through their neighborhoods or past their childrens’ schools," Hauter said. "Once people realize waste is coming through their town and start demanding answers about safety and security from the DOE, they’ll discover what Nevadans have known for years: You can’t trust the DOE to put people’s safety over industry profits." Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn has announced his intention to veto the project, but Congress could override Nevada’s objection. A vote by Congress is expected later this year. "The driving force behind the Yucca Mountain project has never been sound science, but nuclear industry profits," Hauter said. "This administration’s energy policies already have been discredited by the secretive influence of energy industry tycoons. Congress should reject the bought-and-paid-for nuclear waste policy of the Bush administration, protect the integrity of government processes — as well as public health and safety — and oppose the Yucca Mountain project." ### Public Citizen is an independent voice for citizens in the halls of power. ***************************************************************** 20 Bush OKs Nuclear Waste Site Newsday.com - Nev. expected to oppose Yucca Mountain location By Earl Lane WASHINGTON BUREAU February 16, 2002 Washington - President George W. Bush Friday approved Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a disposal site for thousands of tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste, setting up a confrontation with the state that is expected to end up in Congress and the courts. In a letter to congressional leaders, Bush said a long-term repository at the site about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas "is necessary to protect public safety, health and this nation's security." The disposal site eventually would receive up to 77,000 tons of waste from commercial power reactors, research reactors and the nation's nuclear weapons program. The waste would be placed about 1,000 feet below the surface of the mountain. The wastes are in temporary storage at 131 sites in 39 states. They include more than 40,000 tons of spent commercial fuel being held at reactor sites in water pools and dry casks. Proponents of the repository say it will allow consolidation of nuclear wastes, providing better security in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. Foes say the central site, if approved and built, will require thousands of shipments of nuclear waste by truck and rail from across the nation. They question the safety of such shipments, which they also say would be vulnerable to attack. But Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who formally recommended the site to Bush on Thursday, said Friday that it makes sense to move the waste "to a single site which we believe can be much more safely secured" than the scattered temporary locations. Now that Bush has acted, Nevada has 60 days under the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act to veto the project. Congress would have 90 days to override the Nevada objection. The project also must be approved and licensed by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a process that could take three years or more. A Nevada veto of Bush's decision is a foregone conclusion, according to Robert Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, a state agency. Loux said the state, which already has filed two suits against the project, is considering another suit challenging the administration's decision. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other Nevada politicians say they will urge their House and Senate colleagues not to approve the Yucca Mountain site. They face a battle. Congress passed a law in 1987 ordering the federal government to study only the Nevada site and disregard others being considered in Texas and Washington state. "After two decades of study, we know this remote location beneath the Nevada desert is a safe, secure and viable site and should be completed without further delay," House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said. Bush promised during his election campaign to base any decision about Yucca Mountain on "sound science." The Department of Energy said the studies of Yucca Mountain have been "thoroughly reviewed" by specialists at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, among others. Proponents say the disposal site will meet requirements that it contain any radioactive materials leak for at least 10,000 years. Debate on its technical suitability continues, however. Critics say some evidence suggests that rain water, which can corrode disposal casks, can migrate through the volcanic rock much quicker than computer models predict. They also cite concerns about future volcanic and earthquake activity and worries about the sufficiency of the metal alloy waste containers and a planned titanium drip shield. Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc. ***************************************************************** 21 Nuclear Dump in Nev. Gets Bush OK February 16, 2002 Environment: The decision to bury waste at the Yucca Mountain site enrages governor, who vows to fight the plan. By TOM GORMAN and JAMES GERSTENZANG, Times Staff Writers LAS VEGAS -- President Bush approved Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the burial ground for the nation's radioactive nuclear waste Friday, and an enraged Gov. Kenny Guinn promptly sued to block the proposal. "I am outraged, as are the citizens of Nevada, that this decision would go forward with so many unanswered questions," Guinn said. Nevada has set aside $5.4 million and hired lawyers in San Francisco and Washington to fight the decision in the courts. In a letter to Congress, Bush said that, based on the advice of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Yucca Mountain is "qualified" to serve as a repository, which he said "is important for our national security and our energy future." The state immediately answered by filing a lawsuit in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, challenging Abraham's recommendation of Yucca Mountain and Bush's acceptance of it, on the grounds that the site doesn't meet Congress' criteria for a nuclear waste repository. "Now the real battle will begin," said John Ensign, Nevada's Republican senator. Nevada's other senator, Democratic Whip Harry Reid, said Bush "has betrayed our trust and endangered the American public" by deciding to ship 77,000 tons of nuclear waste cross country to the bulbous mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Reid noted that when Bush campaigned in Nevada in 2000, he promised to make a decision based on science instead of politics. "Today, President Bush has broken his promise," Reid said Friday. "All Americans should be concerned, not just because he lied to me or the people of Nevada and indeed all Americans, but because the president's decision threatens American lives." Guinn, a Republican, said he would formally oppose the development of Yucca Mountain by exercising his "notice of disapproval." The governor has 60 days to reject the project, and he said Friday that he was trying to determine the best timing. Once he vetoes the president's decision, Congress has 90 working days to overrule him by simple majority votes in both houses of Congress. By delaying his veto, Guinn said, Reid and Ensign will have more time to lobby fellow senators to support Nevada. Reid and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) have pledged to block congressional support for Yucca Mountain but have conceded they are unsure of their chances. Bush's decision was "premature and irresponsible," Daschle said Friday. "This isn't a political issue; it's a public safety issue." Opponents of the nuclear waste dump--including Nevada's politicians, environmentalists, scientists and anti-nuclear advocates--have long braced themselves for Bush's announcement and renewed their vows Friday to fight the decision. Their actions include lawsuits alleging that the Energy Department has ignored its congressional mandate to find a geologically sound burial ground and grass-roots campaigning in concert tours by Bonnie Raitt and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The battle line over Yucca Mountain will be drawn between the states that will benefit from sending their nuclear waste to Nevada and those states that don't want casks of radioactive material traveling along their highways and railroad lines. Abraham has said the risks of transporting radioactive waste to Nevada are outweighed by the dangers of leaving the material at 131 nuclear power plants in 39 states around the nation--at sites within 75 miles of towns and cities in which 161 million Americans live. Nuclear waste from military installations also will be shipped to Nevada. Based on preliminary planning, nuclear waste will travel through 42 states on its way to Nevada, frequently in amounts greater than what is generated in some of those states' own nuclear plants. Even assuming the nuclear waste can be delivered here safely, Nevada officials complain that Yucca Mountain offers no geological safeguards against radioactive leakage. The Energy Department has conceded in recent years that the treeless Yucca Mountain--a volcanic ridge that rises 1,300 feet above the desert valley and is broken with 34 earthquake faults--is not sufficient by itself to contain radioactivity. The material will be stored in vaults buried in tunnels deep inside the mountain, with the government's expectation they will remain safe for 10,000 years. Some scientists are worried that water trickling through the mountain will corrode the casks and that radiation will seep into the desert aquifer. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said she was disappointed by Bush's decision and was concerned that ground water contamination "may pose a serious threat to the health and safety of Californians." The Government Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, concluded in December that nearly 300 scientific and engineering questions remain unanswered and that the government's hope to open the facility by 2010 is unrealistic. It said the government doesn't know how long it will take to prepare Yucca Mountain and at what cost. Even if Congress approves Yucca Mountain this year, the repository must be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, prompting further scientific debate. Mitch Singer, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's lobbying organization, said he is confident Congress will override Guinn's veto and endorse Yucca Mountain. "We don't think there will be a serious problem getting a decision," he said. Congress in 1982 promised the nuclear power industry it would find a place to store its radioactive waste by 1999. Since 1987, the only venue under consideration has been Yucca Mountain, which straddles the Nevada Test Site where 928 nuclear tests occurred between 1951 and 1992. Guinn said Nevada has learned its lessons in dealing with the federal government over the years and is wary of its promises that Yucca Mountain is safe. "In the 1950s, we took the government at its word when they said underground testing would be safe," Guinn said. "We said, fine, OK, we're patriotic. Then they started above-ground testing and said, oh, it's safe, you can go out on the hill and watch. "Well, we found out they weren't right," Guinn said. "We're a much bigger state today--the fastest growing in the nation--and we have an obligation not only to ourselves but to our neighbors to fight this." The population of the Las Vegas Valley is about 1.4 million people today, more than double what it was when Yucca Mountain was targeted as a dump site 15 years ago. The casino industry--the state's biggest business--is also opposed to the use of Yucca Mountain, although it has not yet put much money into the fight. "In all our conversations with members of Congress, we've argued that alternatives need to be found," said Alan Feldman, spokesman for MGM Mirage, the largest casino operator in Las Vegas. "But the problem is, the pro-nuclear industry has spent so much money on this, we couldn't dream spending that kind of money. What we might try to do now may be too little, too late." He observed, however, that any kind of catastrophe at Yucca Mountain would doom the state's economy. "Tourism in Chernobyl has been pretty bad in recent years," he said. The government has spent more than $4 billion--and by some estimates, as much as $7 billion--studying the site. Abraham recommended to Bush on Thursday that the site be approved because it is "technically suitable" and "the science behind this project is sound." The president wasted little time in throwing his support behind the recommendation, saying that nuclear energy, the second-largest source of U.S. electricity generation, "must remain a major component of our national energy policy in the years to come." But sending its waste to the outskirts of Las Vegas, said Mayor Oscar Goodman, will expose "millions of Americans in 43 states to potential nuclear holocaust." "All it takes is one terrorist with a TOW missile obtained on the black market to take out a truck carrying this deadly substance, and we get Chernobyl in our backyard," Goodman said. "This is the stuff of our worst nightmares." One of Nevada's lawsuits, filed last summer, challenges the assumptions and adequacy of radiation leakage standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency. Another lawsuit, filed in December, alleges that the Energy Department violated the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 by ignoring the requirement that a site's geology provide the primary containment of radioactivity. Both lawsuits are pending in federal appellate court in Washington. Nevada officials have tried to block Yucca Mountain on bureaucratic grounds--by denying the Energy Department water rights at the site. The department has sued, and that case is pending in a Las Vegas federal courtroom. More lawsuits are planned, including ones alleging that the federal government has violated its own procedural laws by prematurely adopting an environmental impact study of the site. "Our best efforts will be in court," Guinn said, "where we can go before a judge who will look at the facts and not whether we're a small state going against the federal government or the nuclear industry's political machine." "This is not a Republican or Democratic issue," Guinn said. "It's Nevada going against 39 states that produce this material." Gorman reported from Las Vegas, Gerstenzang from Washington. Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times ***************************************************************** 22 Bush Backs Nevada Nuclear Waste Site, Senate Democrats Object By Richard Keil, Ryan J. Donmoyer and Alex Canizares Washington, Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush decided to use Nevada's Yucca Mountain site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas as a permanent burial place for nuclear waste. ``A deep geologic repository, such as Yucca Mountain, is important for our national security and our energy future,'' Bush said in a letter to Congress. The selection of Yucca Mountain as a permanent nuclear dump pits Nevada politicians and environmental groups against a nuclear power industry that has no permanent place to store 77,000 tons of nuclear waste now kept in reactors in 31 states. The industry says about half of those facilities will run out of space by 2005. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and other Senate Democrats have vowed to block the decision. The federal government has spent about $8 billion over the last two decades to study whether Yucca Mountain is suitable for storing the material, which will be radioactive for 10,000 years. ``Yucca Mountain will bring together the location, natural barriers and design elements necessary to protect the health and safety of the public,'' Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham wrote Bush last night formally recommending use of the site. Plant owners such as Exelon Corp., the largest U.S. producer of nuclear power, and Entergy Corp. have contributed more than $13 billion to a fund for building a facility that the government estimates will cost $58 billion. The waste would be kept in specially designed containers and placed in concrete-lined tunnels about 1,000 feet below the surface. `Dirty Bombs' Senator Harry Reid of Nevada said Bush's decision, coming on the eve of a weeklong presidential trip to Asia, breaks his promise during the 2000 election campaign to refuse to send nuclear waste to any site unless science shows it's safe. ``Let's be clear: Before getting on a plane to fly over to Asia, President Bush has dropped the equivalent of 100,000 dirty bombs on America,'' Reid, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, said in a statement. ``The president's decision threatens American lives.'' White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Bush's decision to recommend Yucca Mountain ``is based on sound science.'' The search for a site took on renewed urgency in recent months because of concerns that the radioactive material might fall into terrorist hands. Reid charged Bush's decision puts the nuclear waste at risk because it will have to be transported to Yucca Mountain via rail through 44 states. Appeal Rejected Last week Nevada's top politicians -- Reid and two Republicans, Governor Kenny Guinn and Senator John Ensign -- appealed to Bush to reject the site, saying the storage plan didn't reflect sound science. Critics such as the U.S. Public Interest Research Group say transporting the waste heightens the risk of a radioactive accident or terrorist attack. The industry group Nuclear Energy Institute, meantime, plans ``a multifaceted effort to help people address what the science of this effort is, and the value of a geologic repository,'' said spokesman Steve Kerekes. Under the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the Nevada governor has 60 days to veto Bush's decision. To give the project the green light, both the U.S. House and Senate must override Nevada's veto by a majority vote within 90 days of Nevada's action. Even then, the project must be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and survive legal challenges by Nevada. Nevada's Republican governor, Kenny Guinn, has hired a former Senate parliamentarian, Robert Dove, to advise him on ways to defeat the project. Guinn has vowed a court fight over use of the Yucca site. Senate Battle The Republican-led U.S. House would likely approve Yucca, citing the need to boost nuclear power, which provides 20 percent of U.S. electricity. In the Senate, Reid says he counts 30 Democrats and 10 Republicans who will vote against the project. ``The Senate's where it's really crucial,'' said U.S. Public Interest Research Group lobbyist Anna Aurilio, who counts 17 Senate votes as crucial. She cited a 1998 test vote in which 34 senators voted against a Yucca-related proposal, including two Republicans -- Ben ``Nighthorse'' Campbell of Colorado and the late John Chafee of Rhode Island. Reid faces two hurdles: unlike most bills, the Nuclear Policy Act prohibits a senator from using a filibuster to block a Yucca vote. Also, refusing to schedule a vote won't work: After 90 days, the proposal automatically goes forward. ``It'll be difficult for the opponents to block it,'' said Senator John Breaux, a Louisiana Democrat who favors building the repository. The General Accounting Office reported last year that 293 technical issues need to be resolved before Yucca can be deemed suitable, including tests to ensure storage tanks won't leak waste into groundwater. Opponents of the Yucca project say they're banking on scientific evidence to scuttle it. Reid says there's no proven way to safely transport waste, either by rail or highway. Kevin Kamps, a nuclear waste specialist with the anti-Yucca Nuclear Information and Resource Service, said key votes include senators such as Jean Carnahan of Missouri, whose late husband, Mel Carnahan, opposed Yucca when he was the state's governor. There were also be pressure on members from Illinois, through which 36,300 shipments, or 75 percent of all U.S. nuclear waste, would pass. The state also has several nuclear power plants, perhaps explaining why Illinois' Democratic Senator, Richard Durbin, has voted against past Yucca-related bills, and Republican Peter Fitzgerald has voted for it. ``There are many states where this could very quickly become a big issue,'' Kamps said. ©2002 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Terms of Service, ***************************************************************** 23 Bush endorses Nevada nuclear waste facility Financial Times; Feb 16, 2002 By NANCY DUNNE and JULIE EARLE President George W. Bush yesterday endorsed a plan to store US nuclear waste in a central repository in Nevada's Yucca Mountain, a move that helps clear the way for the expansion of the nuclear industry. Nevada officials, like those in most US states, are opposed to the proposal and will go to court to stop it. In the end, it will be decided by Congress. The administration has been a strong supporter of the nuclear power industry. On Thursday, Spencer Abraham, the energy secretary, announced a multiyear, public-private initiative designed to build at least two new nuclear power plants by the end of the decade. These would be the first plants licensed since an accident at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island plant in 1979. The administration has proposed Dollars 38.5m for the first year of the programme in 2003. It will explore new plant sites, test and expedite the licensing process and conduct research on new technologies. Mr Abraham first announ-ced the plan on Thursday at a private meeting of industry representatives, who have been pushing for months for a tangible demonstration of Bush administration support for new plants. He also announced co-operative projects with two nuclear utilities - Exelon and Dominion Resources - to study potential sites. These include three government-owned sites: Savannah River, Georgia; the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory; and Portsmouth, Ohio, where a nuclear enrichment facility is closing. There are 103 active nuclear plants in the US. From its inception the Bush administration has promised to speed up relicensing of existing plants and to consider building new nuclear plants. But there are strong political and economic obstacles to realisation of this promise. A nuclear comeback also comes at a time when nuclear plants are on heightened alert following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington in September. Mr Abraham acknowledged new dangers to the industry from the threat of terrorism, but said terrorists would not be allowed to "dictate our future industry choices". To this end he has sped the recommendation of Yucca Mountain asa long-term geological repository for nuclear waste. "It will promote our national and homeland security by safety locking away for ever dangerous nuclear waste. And it will help us clean up our environment," he said. The industry - wary that the administration will change its mind on nuclear power as others have before - has urged Mr Abraham and Vice-President Dick Cheney to develop a programme, which would require up-front government money. "Then the commercial guys will throw in," said one industry lawyer. The industry has already spent Dollars 16bn towards making ready the Yucca site and its approval has dragged on for years. Chicago-based Exelon, which owns 17 reactors in the US, hopes to announce construction of a state-of-the-art reactor this year. Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 1995-2002 ***************************************************************** 24 N-waste site chosen; battle ahead Denver Post.com Theo Stein tstein@denverpost.com] Denver Post Environment Writer --> Saturday, February 16, 2002 - President Bush formally named Yucca Mountain, Nev., as the nation's nuclear dump Friday, a step that will kick off a debate in Congress over the safety of burying nuclear waste in the desert and transporting it along U.S. railroads and interstate highways. In a letter to congressional leaders, Bush said a central disposal site for as much as 77,000 tons of waste that is building up at sites across the country "is necessary to protect public safety, health and this nation's security." Colorado's congressional delegation appears split over the decision. The terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon have made U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Loveland, even more anxious to rid Platteville of a truckload of spent fuel rods from the decommissioned Fort St. Vrain generating plant. Site, travel risks "The events of 9/11 have made that site a security risk, which makes it more incumbent that we get that material out of there," said Allard press secretary Sean Conway. But the security risk posed by the nation's radioactive waste moving through the Interstate 70 corridor is what concerns Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, and Scott McInnis, R-Grand Junction. DeGette is flatly opposed, in part because she's also worried about the suitability of Yucca Mountain. McInnis will give the transportation aspects of the Bush plan a long look, said press aide Blain Rethmeyer. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Boulder, is also waiting until he sees the plan before he forms an opinion. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell has previously opposed the Yucca Mountain plan, also because of the threat of an accidental spill or release of radioactivity. Two years ago, the delegation split evenly over a bill to continue funding Yucca Mountain studies, with McInnis, joining DeGette and Udall to oppose the bill. GOP Reps. Bob Schaffer, Joel Hefley and Tom Tancredo supported the bill. Allard and Campbell split. Bush said his decision "is the culmination of two decades of intense scientific scrutiny" and that he is certain the science is sound. The plan calls for putting the waste, mostly used reactor fuel rods from commercial power plants, into volcanic rock 950 feet below the desert surface. DOE chief's proposal Bush followed the recommendation of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in approving the Nevada site. The next stage in the approval process moves to Nevada, where Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn has announced he plans to veto the president's decision. The issue then moves back to Washington, where both the House and Senate must approve Yucca Mountain. Gannett News Service contributed to this report. All contents Copyright 2002 The Denver Post ***************************************************************** 25 Constellation Energy Group Applauds President Bush's Acceptance of Yucca Mountain Repository Recommendation Statement of Christian H. Poindexter Chairman of the Board of Directors BALTIMORE, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- President George W. Bush today accepted and forwarded to the Congress the recommendation of Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham that Yucca Mountain, Nev., be developed as the national underground repository for storing used fuel from America's nuclear power plants. The following is a statement on the president's action by Christian H. Poindexter, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Constellation Energy Group. "President Bush's decisive action to move forward on developing Yucca Mountain is a historic step forward toward assuring safe, permanent storage of the nuclear fuel that has been used to generate clean electricity for millions of Americans for over twenty-five years. "Used fuel is stored at the highest levels of safety and security at our Calvert Cliffs and Nine Mile Point nuclear power plants, but storage at the plant sites was never intended to take the place of a single, national disposal facility. Consolidating used nuclear fuel at one highly engineered facility at a remote site -- where it can be stored and monitored with an extra measure of safety and efficiency -- just makes sense. "Our customers in Maryland and New York have paid more than $395 million into the federal fund established to site and build a permanent repository to dispose of the used fuel from Calvert Cliffs, Nine Mile Point, and the nuclear plants around the country. Our customers will continue to pay into that fund to provide the necessary revenues for the safe operation of the facility. President Bush's action serves their interests by keeping the government moving on its commitment to consumers of nuclear-generated electricity. "We urge Congress to affirm the president's decision and allow the U.S. Department of Energy to submit a license application for a repository at Yucca Mountain. We are confident that more than 20 years of scientific research, combined with ongoing investigations, will demonstrate that the site can meet the stringent requirements of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the comprehensive standards of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency." The Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Maryland and Nine Mile Nuclear Station in New York are owned by Constellation Energy Group (NYSE: CEG). Constellation Energy Group owns energy-related business, including a North American wholesale power marketing and merchant generation company and the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) a regulated energy delivery company in Central Maryland. BGE provides service to more than 1.1 million electric customers and more than 600,000 natural gas customers in Central Maryland. Constellation Energy Group had $3.9 billion in revenues in 2001 and assets of $13.7 billion at December 31, 2001. SOURCE Constellation Energy Group Web Site: http://www.constellationenergy.com Company News On Call: Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/gh/cnoc/comp/084087.html ***************************************************************** 26 Prairie Island Indian Community Applauds President Bush's Decision On Yucca Mountain PRAIRIE ISLAND, Minn., Feb. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The Prairie Island Indian Community is one step closer to seeing the removal of a stockpile of nuclear waste that sits 600 yards from its community with today's decision by President Bush to authorize a national storage site at Nevada's Yucca Mountain. Prairie Island is the closest community in the nation to an existing, temporary nuclear waste storage site. "President Bush has given our community hope that one day this threat will be removed from our backyard," said Prairie Island Tribal Council President Audrey Kohnen. "We know that the fight is far from won, but we are encouraged by this action and will remain steadfast in our attempt to rid our community of this nuclear nightmare." Last month, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended to President Bush that he authorize Yucca Mountain as the permanent national repository for spent nuclear fuel. Nevada's governor is expected to reject Bush's approval, which will send the issue to Congress for a final vote. If approved, Yucca Mountain isn't expected to open until 2012. "We hope that the Minnesota's delegation and the rest of Congress will agree with us that storing nuclear waste in a single, militarily secure location is better than spreading it out across the country, and certainly better than storing it 600 yards from our homes," said Kohnen. "For more than 25 years, we've been asking that our community's health and safety concerns be addressed. This is one of the first steps we can celebrate." Xcel Energy's Prairie Island nuclear power plant began operating in 1973. In 1994, Minnesota authorized Xcel Energy to store up to 17 casks of nuclear waste adjacent to the reservation. The Prairie Island Indian Community is a federally recognized Indian Nation, located 50 minutes southeast of Minneapolis/St. Paul along the Mississippi River. Copyright © 1996-2002 PR Newswire Association Inc. All Rights ***************************************************************** 27 Detroit Edison Supports Bush Yucca Mountain Recommendation DETROIT, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Detroit Edison, the electric utility operating unit of DTE Energy, today commended President Bush for his recommendation of Yucca Mountain, Nevada as the site for a nuclear waste repository for the nation's spent nuclear fuel. "President Bush's recommendation to proceed with the development of the Yucca Mountain facility allows the government to finally deliver on its 20-year-old promise to provide a centralized location for the storage of spent nuclear fuel," said Anthony F. Earley Jr., chairman and chief executive officer, DTE Energy. "Construction of such a facility is long overdue considering that the nation's electric utility customers have paid or committed more than $18 billion to the government during the past 20 years to fund the construction and operation of a long-term disposal facility. More than $800 million of that has come from consumers of electricity from Michigan nuclear power plants." Department of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham yesterday recommended the Yucca Mountain site to President Bush for the nuclear repository. Congress mandated the development of a federal, deep geologic nuclear waste disposal facility in 1982. A 1998 deadline was set for the government to begin accepting spent nuclear fuel. In the meantime, nearly $7 billion has been spent on exhaustive hydrology, geology, seismology and other studies toward the development of a site, with the exclusive focus since 1986 on the Yucca Mountain location. The government's failure to move forward with construction of a facility has left the nation's 103 operating nuclear power plants with no option but to provide temporary on-site storage for spent fuel used to produce nearly 20 percent of the nation's electricity. By 2005, nearly half of those facilities will have exhausted temporary on-site storage capacity for the nuclear fuel. "President Bush and Secretary Abraham have removed the political stumbling blocks that have delayed this action and acknowledged that the technical and scientific data gathered assures the geologic suitability of the site," Earley said. "There is virtually no doubt that spent fuel can safely be disposed of at the Yucca Mountain facility." SOURCE Detroit Edison Web Site: http://www.dteenergy.com [http://www.dteenergy.com] Copyright © 1996-2002 PR Newswire Association Inc. All Rights ***************************************************************** 28 ENSIGN SAYS "IT AIN’T OVER `TIL IT'S OVER"; FIGHT MUST GO ON AGAINST YUCCA MOUNTAIN Sergeant at Arms Administrator 3 1 2002-02-15T19:44:00Z 2002-02-15T21:02:00Z FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FEBRUARY 15, 2002 Washington – Sen. John Ensign made this statement in reaction to President Bush’s decision to recommend Yucca Mountain as the nation’s nuclear waste depository: “I am obviously very disappointed, although not surprised, that the President chose to recommend Yucca Mountain as the nation’s nuclear waste depository.  Every administration for the last two decades has supported moving forward with this decision.  I really think President Bush took our concerns, expressed during our recent meeting, into consideration.  But the Department of Energy has been hell bent on shoving waste into our backyard, regardless of what science and common sense show.  “Baseball great Yogi Berra said, ‘it ain’t over ‘til it’s over’ and it ain’t over.  Nevada has earned its name and reputation as the ‘Battle Born’ state.  Now the real battle will begin.  Sen. Reid and I will be arm in arm with Gov. Guinn to fight this on all sides and keep nuclear waste from crossing the state line.” ### ***************************************************************** 29 Nevada Balks at Bush Nuke Decision Las Vegas SUN February 15, 2002 WASHINGTON- President Bush approved Nevada's Yucca Mountain on Friday as the site for long-term disposal of thousands of tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste. In a letter to congressional leaders, Bush said a central disposal site for as much as 77,000 tons of waste that is building up at sites across the country "is necessary to protect public safety, health and this nation's security." He noted that Nevada was expected to file a protest that will leave the final decision on whether to proceed up to Congress. Nevada officials have argued that the government can't ensure the public will be protected over the thousands of years the waste will remain dangerous. The site is 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, one of the fastest growing urban areas in the country. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Bush of breaking a campaign promise in which to told Nevadans he would base a decision on Yucca Mountain on "sound science not politics." "Today President Bush broke this promise," said Reid. But Bush said his decision "is the culmination of two decades of intense scientific scrutiny" and that he is certain the science is sound. The plan calls for putting the waste, mostly used reactor fuel rods from commercial power plants, into volcanic rock 950 feet below the desert surface. Nevada's Republican governor, Kenny Guinn, said he was outraged. Within hours, Nevada filed suit in federal court arguing the way the Energy Department came to its conclusions in recommending the site violated a 1982 nuclear waste law. The suit had been expected. Bush followed the recommendation of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham who in a telephone call with reporters said, "It is my strong belief the science supports the safe use of this repository." "We feel strongly this make sense to the nation," said Abraham, noting that Yucca Mountain would provide a place not only for commercial waste but also used nuclear fuel from the Navy and high-level waste from nuclear weapons sites. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., whose state has 11 commercial power reactors, said the Yucca Mountain facility "should be completed without further delay." He said he is certain the site "is safe, secure and viable." But House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri, expressed concern about the thousands of waste shipments that will have to crisscross the country. With most nuclear power plants in the eastern third of the country, many of those shipment move through Missouri. Abraham said the waste can be transported safely, and "it poses a greater risks to the communities where it is" now kept since many of the power plants are near urban areas. Congress will have to decide, by majority vote of both houses, whether to uphold the decision or side with Nevada and find another site for the more than 40,000 tons of waste now kept at commercial reactors in 34 states as well as waste kept at defense sites. The president's action marks a major step in the decades-long dispute over what to do with the waste generated by commercial nuclear power plants and by the government nuclear weapons program. The waste at commercial reactors is growing by 2,000 tons a year. Unless Congress sides with Nevada, the Energy Department's next step will be to get a license for the Yucca facility from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a process that could take several years. No waste is expected to be shipped to the site before 2010 and even that target is likely to slip. Abraham recommended a green light be given to the Yucca project in a letter to the president late Thursday. He said a review of 20 years of scientific studies had convinced him the waste could be kept at the site without risk. Reid called the choice to go ahead with the project "a hasty, poor and indefensible decision" at a time when "the science does not yet exist" to ensure the waste can be contained. Under a 1987 law, which limited the scientific studies on a possible site to Yucca Mountain, Nevada can file an objection and stop the project. But Congress, in turn, can override the objection. If it is built, the facility would hold up to 77,000 tons of used reactor fuel rods from 73 operating and mothballed nuclear power plants in 34 states and from federal weapons facilities. Some of the radioisotopes will remain deadly for more than 10,000 years. Abraham said he told the president in his letter that he "could not and would not recommend the Yucca Mountain site without having first determined that (it will) ...protect the health and safety of the public." He said that "compelling national interests" - made even more apparent by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - require development of a remote centralized disposal site. "More than 161 million people live within 75 miles of one or more of these sites" now holding the waste, he said. Nevada Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn and members of the state's congressional delegation made an appeal at the White House last week asking that Bush not act hastily. On the Net: Yucca Mountain Project: http://www.ymp.gov/ [http://www.ymp.gov/] All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 30 Gephardt Statement on Administration's Yucca Mountain Decision U.S. Newswire 15 Feb 14:50 To: National Desk Contact: Erik Smith or Kori Bernards, 202-225-0100, both of the Office of the House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt; Web site: http://democraticleader.house.gov/ [http://democraticleader.house.gov/] WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a statement by House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt: "I am deeply disappointed by the administration's decision on Yucca Mountain. There is not nearly enough scientific knowledge to reach a conclusion about the safety of transporting, then dumping, thousands of tons of radioactive, nuclear waste in the state of Nevada. The General Accounting Office, a non-partisan body created by Congress, said as much two months ago. "It is regrettable that politics and the needs of corporate energy interests seem to be at the heart of this decision. The people of Nevada deserve a more thorough process of investigation and review before making a determination that could have a tremendous, adverse impact on their lives. The American people deserve more from their elected leaders. "I will work with other Democratic Leaders in the House and the Senate to overturn the administration's decision in Congress and to safeguard the health of the people of Nevada." Copyright 2002, U.S. Newswire ***************************************************************** 31 Nevada governor pledges to veto president's Yucca Mountain plan Las Vegas SUN February 15, 2002 Nevada governor pledges to veto president's Yucca Mountain plan LAS VEGAS (AP) - Reaction in Nevada was swift and critical to President Bush's decision Friday to build a national nuclear waste dump in the state. "I am outraged, as are the citizens of Nevada," said Gov. Kenny Guinn, who announced he will veto Bush's decision and send the matter to Congress. "As a state, we are solidly united to continue our fight against Yucca Mountain," Guinn said, adding that the state has built a $5.4 million fund to fight the dump site. The state has promised more lawsuits against the plan that would store 77,000 tons of the nation's nuclear waste in series of underground tunnels. Yucca Mountain is at the western edge of the federal government's Nevada Test Site, 90 miles from Las Vegas. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Bush of breaking a written campaign promise to rely on sound science, not politics, to make his decision on the Yucca Mountain project. "All Americans should be concerned, not just because he lied to me or the people of Nevada," said Reid, who has pledged to use his position as the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate to marshal votes against the plan. "The president's decision threatens American lives," Reid declared. "I say this because to carry out President Bush's plan would require shipment of nuclear waste ... through 43 states." The president's decision came less than 24 hours after Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham formally declared the Yucca Mountain site suitable for the repository. It was the only site under study. The earliest Yucca Mountain could begin accepting spent nuclear fuel is 2010. U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said the president was "misled" by the Energy Department. "Unfortunately, the DOE continues to ignore the serious concerns and criticisms leveled by independent scientists and experts," Gibbons said. "The president relied upon the scientific information presented by the DOE, which for years has rushed headlong toward approving Yucca Mountain." "I think it's a premature decision," said Allison Mcfarlane, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has studied the Yucca Mountain project for several years. She referred to a General Accounting Office review that cited 293 unresolved technical issues and recommended Bush postpone a decision, and to a report by an independent Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board that criticized the Energy Department's scientific work at Yucca Mountain. "I think there are enough scientific and technical issues that are unresolved that it could affect the safety of the repository," Mcfarlane said by telephone from Boston. Nevada lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had been trying to persuade Bush to reject the recommendation for scientific and political reasons. "Now the real battle will begin," said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who last month warned that Bush could cost Republicans two hotly contested congressional seats in Nevada and threaten the GOP's narrow majority in the House if he approved the Yucca Mountain project. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 32 Gore says Bush broke promise on Yucca Mountain Las Vegas SUN February 15, 2002 Reno, Nevada (AP) - -- Former Vice President Al Gore is joining the chorus of politicians accusing President Bush of breaking his promise to Nevadans about a proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. Gore says Bush's decision today to go forward with the repository in Nevada is a... quote... "flat out broken promise, plain as day." The Democrat Gore says Bush did the opposite of what he pledged to the people of Nevada. He says Bush's decision is wrong because it is NOT based on science and is wrong because it is bad for the environment. He says Congress should overrule the president's decision. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 33 Nevada sues, governor pledges veto over Yucca Mountain plan Las Vegas SUN February 15, 2002 LAS VEGAS (AP) - Nevada officials moved Friday to counter President Bush's decision to build a national nuclear waste dump in the state, taking the fight to the courts and promising a battle on Capitol Hill. "I am outraged, as are the citizens of Nevada," said Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn, who said he will veto Bush's decision and send the matter to Congress. "As a state, we are solidly united to continue our fight against Yucca Mountain," Guinn said, adding that Nevada has built a $5.4 million fund to keep nuclear waste out. The state quickly filed suit against the plan to store 77,000 tons of radioactive waste in underground tunnels. Yucca Mountain is at the western edge of the federal government's Nevada Test Site, 90 miles from Las Vegas. State Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said the state filed a lawsuit Friday against the plan in U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia challenging Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's recommendation of the site and Bush's decision. "The secretary's recommendation is based on faulty siting guidelines that do not achieve the purpose of geological isolation of nuclear waste," Del Papa told The Associated Press. She was referring to the standard Congress set in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, which began studies of Yucca Mountain. "Simply put, because the secretary's recommendation was flawed, the president's decision was flawed," Del Papa said. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Bush of breaking a written campaign promise to rely on sound science, not politics, to make his decision. "All Americans should be concerned, not just because he lied to me or the people of Nevada," Reid said. "The president's decision threatens American lives," Reid declared. "I say this because to carry out President Bush's plan would require shipment of nuclear waste ... through 43 states." White House spokeswoman Nicolle Devenish called Reid's comments, "a shameful excuse for a false personal attack on the president." "The president made a thoughtful decision based on sound science," Devenish said. Reid has pledged to use his position as the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate to marshal votes against the plan. The president's decision came less than 24 hours after Abraham formally declared the Yucca Mountain site suitable for the repository. It was the only site under study. The earliest Yucca Mountain could begin accepting spent nuclear fuel is 2010. U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said the president was "misled" by the Energy Department, which he said "continues to ignore the serious concerns and criticisms leveled by independent scientists and experts." Allison Macfarlane, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher who has studied the project for several years, called Bush's decision "premature." She referred to a General Accounting Office recommendation that Bush postpone a decision until 293 unresolved technical issues are answered, and to a report by an independent Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board that criticized the Energy Department's scientific work at Yucca Mountain. "I think there are enough scientific and technical issues that are unresolved that it could affect the safety of the repository," Macfarlane said by telephone from Boston. Nevada lawmakers in both parties had tried to persuade Bush to reject the recommendation for scientific and political reasons. "Now the real battle will begin," said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who last month warned Bush that approving Yucca Mountain could cost Republicans two hotly contested Nevada congressional seats and threaten the GOP's narrow majority in the House. "This had to be a difficult decision for the president, politically," said former Nevada Gov. Robert List, one of the highest-profile backers of the project in the state. "But he made it in the interest of national security and energy policy and in solving a problem that's been growing and festering for 20 years - what does America do with its nuclear waste from submarines, aircraft carriers, hospitals and utilities?" The state already has filed lawsuits over Yucca Mountain water rights, radioactivity standards and the criteria on which Abraham made his decision. Deputy Nevada Attorney General Marta Adams said the state's new lawsuit also blames the federal government for not releasing its environmental impact study of the site until after Abraham's recommendation went to the president. Guinn said Friday he wouldn't exercise his veto immediately. "I have 60 days to issue this veto," the governor said. "I will. Absolutely. But I will work with our congressional delegation to time it with their strategy of gathering votes, and with our legal team now running parallel in court." Congress can override Guinn within 90 days on a majority vote of both Houses. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 34 Outcry in Nevada Over Nuke Waste Las Vegas SUN February 16, 2002 WASHINGTON- President Bush pointed to national security and the need to support the nuclear industry as major reasons to push ahead with a nuclear waste dump in Nevada - one he said he is convinced is scientifically sound and should be built. The decision prompted an immediate outcry in Nevada where Democrats accused Bush of breaking a campaign promise not to saddle them with 77,000 tons of nuclear waste that will remain dangerous for 10,000 or more years. The Republican governor filed suit challenging the approval process. Even former Vice President Al Gore weighed in after Bush announced he would go ahead and build the underground waste dump 90 miles from Las Vegas, calling Bush's decision on Yucca "a flat out broken promise" from the 2000 campaign. For Republicans in Nevada - where virtually everyone agrees the dump ought to be somewhere else - the situation became especially precarious as they sought to distance themselves from the decision, but not alienate the GOP president. "I'm very disappointed, although not surprised," said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., holding back his criticism of Bush, but aiming instead at the Energy Department which he said "has been hell bent on shoving waste into our backyard, regardless of what science and common sense shows." Nevada GOP Gov. Kenny Guinn said he was outraged. Within hours, Nevada filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the way the decision was made, claiming the procedures that were used violated a 1982 law. The suit had been expected. In matters of nuclear waste, science and politics have often vied for top billing. It is almost certain to be the case as the debate over the proposed Yucca Mountain waste repository now moves to Congress, which will decide whether to uphold the president or side with Nevada. It could all be decided this fall - just before election time. Bush, in a letter to congressional leaders Friday, said he approved the go-ahead for the Yucca Mountain project because a central repository for the more than 77,000 tons of waste building up at power plants and defense sites "is necessary to protect public safety, health and this nation's security." The president, following the advice of his energy secretary, said his decision "is the culmination of two decades of intense scientific scrutiny" and that he is certain the science is sound. Nevada has argued that there are still many outstanding scientific issues not yet fully resolved when it comes to whether Yucca Mountain's geology will adequately contain the waste thousands of years from now. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., reminded that Bush, when campaigning in Nevada in 2000, had vowed not to approve any waste site "unless it's been deemed scientifically safe" and that "sound science not politics, must prevail" in selecting any waste site. "Today, President Bush broke this promise," insisted Reid. Administration officials called the charges nonsense. "It is my strong belief the science supports the safe use of this repository," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. He said the Yucca site's volcanic rocks, its geological history and water flow has been studied for two decades at a cost of more than $4 billion. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the president's decision "is based on sound science. It follows decades of scientific study." But Friday's decision is far from the last word. When Congress in 1987 directed that only the Yucca Mountain site be studied as a potential burial ground for the nation's highly radioactive waste, it also said Nevada could veto the president's decision. And Nevada officials have made clear they will do so. Then it will be up to Congress to side with the White House or with Nevada. One rub, concede some lawmakers privately, is that to side with Nevada means another place has to be found. Some battle lines already have begun to emerge. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., whose state has 11 commercial power reactors and who would like to see their waste moved elsewhere, called Yucca Mountain "safe, secure and viable" and said it should be built "without further delay." On the other hand, House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri, called Bush's actions premature and promised to work with other Democratic leaders to try to overturn the president's decision. One of Gephardt's big worries is over the thousands of shipments of nuclear waste that will have to crisscross the country since most of the nuclear reactors are east of the Mississippi River. Many of those shipments will go through Gephardt's home state. The wastes can be shipped safely, assured Abraham, arguing that communities face a greater risk if the wastes remain where they are. "More than 161 million people live within 75 miles of one or more of these sites," he said. Administration officials are likely to drive that point home when pressing their case on Capitol Hill. Many members of Congress many find it hard to support Nevada when waste is building up their states. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 35 Safety of shipping radioactive waste to Nevada debated HoustonChronicle.com Feb. 16, 2002, 7:15PM By SETH BORENSTEIN Knight Ridder Tribune WASHINGTON -- President Bush's selection Friday of Yucca Mountain, Nev., as the nation's nuclear waste-disposal site opens a new struggle over how to ship the radioactive materials across the country safely. The site in the Nevada desert, about 90 miles from Las Vegas, would store 70,000 tons of radioactive material from the nation's 103 nuclear power plants for up to 10,000 years. Currently nuclear materials are stored in 131 aboveground facilities in 39 states, and 161 million Americans live within 75 miles of these sites, according to a White House document released Friday. About 85 percent of the radioactive material is on the East Coast. Trucks and trains would travel through 45 states to haul the waste to the remote Western mountain, which Bush chose after 20 years of scientific study and political debate. Nuclear waste from commercial power reactors is growing by about 2,000 tons a year. The federal Department of Transportation is responsible for safety on the nation's highways and rail lines, which will carry the nuclear waste. But an internal report and a federal official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the agency is unprepared. According to an inspector general report in January, the transportation agency "is not fully prepared for the forecasted increase in shipments." Officials "are unsure whether the current levels of planning, inspection, training and oversight activity will be sufficient for the forecasted levels of nuclear waste," according to the report. Nevada officials, who oppose storing the waste at Yucca, are jumping on the transportation issue to enlist allies in an effort to reverse Bush's decision. The state intends to file official opposition shortly, and Congress will have 90 days to vote on whether to store the waste at Yucca. Nevada's preliminary analysis of the Department of Energy's latest environmental impact statement -- released late Thursday -- estimates that 170 million people live in counties with highways that would be used to transport the waste. The report projected more than 100,000 truckloads of waste over 38 years, up 6 percent from a 1999 estimate, said Bob Halstead, Nevada's transportation consultant. "It's a national issue, because of where the waste is stored," Halstead told Knight Ridder. "The waste (now) is stored a long ways away from Yucca Mountain. When the transportation system uses the most efficient routes, it concentrates pretty far east. It will be a daily impact on major metropolitan areas." Although the Department of Energy will not discuss specific routes and timetables, the senior federal official, who works on the issue, said Nevada's analysis is on the mark. "The president's decision threatens American lives," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Friday in a news release. "President Bush has dropped the equivalent of 100,000 dirty bombs on America." ***************************************************************** 36 Russian Nuclear Sites Unguarded [NewsMax.com] Saturday, Feb. 16, 2002 MOSCOW – A legislator warned Friday that Russia's nuclear waste sites were unguarded, posing a significant security threat to the world. Sergei Mitrokhin, a member of the liberal Yabloko Party, announced that he and two activists from Greenpeace had entered a high-security nuclear-waste processing plant in Zheleznogorsk, near the city of Krasnoyarsk in eastern Siberia, unhindered, proving an "appalling lack of security." Mitrokhin told reporters that Russia's system of nuclear safety could be best described as "nonexistent," warning that terrorist groups could easily gain access to nuclear waste being processed at the facility. "I was shocked by what I saw," Mitrokhin said. "Anyone can approach the site, which contains dangerous materials, and do whatever they like." Russia is estimated to have accumulated 14,000 tons of nuclear waste from its reactors and scrapped weapons, with more than 3,000 tons of nuclear fuel said to be stored at the facility in the Krasnoyarsk region. Mitrokhin's announcement appeared timed to influence the debate in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, of a bill on the creation of a panel to oversee the import of nuclear waste to Russia from other countries. Mitrokhin said Russia was not ready to accept spent nuclear fuel from foreign sources, and stressed that Russia's 96 nuclear facilities and research centers were underfinanced and lacked proper security. Last July, President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill allowing Russia to import as much as 20,000 tons of spent fuel in a project estimated to earn the country more than $20 billion over the next 10 years. The law has attracted widespread condemnation among environmentalists, and Yabloko has lobbied to block the plan's implementation. Copyright 2002 by United Press International. ***************************************************************** 37 Commission Grants White Mesa Hearing The Salt Lake Tribune -- Saturday, February 16, 2002 The Utah chapter of the Sierra Club has been granted a hearing by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to discuss a proposal to process 17,740 tons of lead sulfide sludge at the White Mesa Uranium Mill outside Blanding. The environmental group contends White Mesa, which is owned by Denver-based International Uranium Corp., does not have the facilities needed to make sure the hazardous sludge remains contained safely on the site. The group also said the sludge, produced at the Molycorp mine at Mountain Pass, Calif., might impact American Indians in the area and vulnerable plant and animal species. © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune ***************************************************************** 38 Utah Site Foes Call Approval Of Yucca Waste a Bitter Pill The Salt Lake Tribune -- Saturday, February 16, 2002 BY CONNIE COYNE THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE President Bush's approval on Friday of the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada for long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel could undermine part of an argument used by opponents of the proposal to temporarily store it on the Goshute Reservation west of Salt Lake City. The Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians has a contract with Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of companies operating nuclear plants, to take spent fuel rods from the nation's nuclear reactors and store them aboveground until they can be placed in a permanent facility. But opponents, including Gov. Mike Leavitt, have warned that the proposed Goshute facility could become permanent because of the possibility no other waste dump would ever be built. Leavitt on Friday reaffirmed his intention to use every means available to fight Private Fuel's plans at the Goshute reservation. Sue Martin, a PFS spokeswoman, said Friday the selection of Yucca Mountain makes a stronger case for the Goshute facility as a temporary measure. "This is just one step in process, but there is little hope [Yucca Mountain] could be ready in time for the industry's needs," she said. "The sooner Yucca Mountain is approved, licensed and built, then the less time Skull Valley would be needed." Steve Erickson, a member of Citizens Education Project, a group that opposes the Goshute plan, admitted the Bush recommendation was a bitter pill for opponents. "It makes the Private Fuel Storage proposal more probable, more likely to happen," he said. "This is a bad decision for people of the state of Utah who have been such strong Bush supporters." Despite Bush's approval of the Yucca storage plan, there still are significant legal roadblocks to the construction of a permanent site at Yucca Mountain, including a threatened protest by the state of Nevada that would force congressional supporters to shop for votes to sustain the president's choice. That would take a majority vote of both houses -- a process that could last at least four months. Martin estimates the soonest the Nevada site could be ready to accept nuclear waste is 2007. The Skull Valley site could be ready to take waste by 2004, she said. "It's been my contention all along that this would always be temporary," said Danny Quintana, the Goshute tribe's former attorney who negotiated the agreement between PFS and the Goshutes. "It always had been intended to be temporary storage. [The designation of Yucca Mountain] is a positive step in direction of temporary storage." For the tiny tribe of the Goshutes -- 73 adult members -- the contract with PFS could provide a huge economic benefit for their economically struggling reservation about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. According to Quintana, the amount of money "is not a Kevin Garnett [Minnesota Timberwolf NBA player who gets $22.4 million a year] but probably more than a John Crotty [Utah Jazz player who gets $1 million a year]." © Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune ***************************************************************** 39 Plan for transporting nuclear waste to Yucca raises concerns Saturday, February 16, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal By KEITH ROGERS REVIEW-JOURNAL The Department of Energy would prefer to use railroads to transport spent nuclear fuel to Yucca Mountain, meaning a new rail line would have to be built in Nevada. And shipments from some of the nation's power plants would use barges or large trucks to get nuclear waste to a rail line. The plan, described in the agency's final Environmental Impact Statement for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project, raised concerns Friday with one state official, who questioned the logic of using waterways to get heavy waste casks designed for railcars from power plants to railheads. "It's the same general concern we have for transportation," said Bob Loux, State Nuclear Projects Agency chief. "Clearly, barges going down major rivers would pose a threat to drinking water supplies, and it would be easy to sink these things if you wanted to," he said about delivering 130-ton spent fuel casks to a railhead by barge. In their proposed action, Energy Department officials envision spent nuclear fuel shipments using one of five potential corridors to reach the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. "At this time, there is no rail access to the Yucca Mountain site. This means that material traveling by rail would have to continue to the repository on a new branch rail line or heavy haul trucks at a ... transfer station in Nevada, and then travel on existing highways that could need to be upgraded," the final report says. Of the $47 billion the Energy Department anticipates will be spent to build a repository and haul waste to it, more than $4 billion will go toward accepting, storing and transporting the materials. Loux believes the architects of the Yucca Mountain transportation plan have underestimated the task, and that improvements to rail systems in Nevada will have to be duplicated at several dozen power plants in other states that have no rail access or inadequate rail lines. In the end, if nuclear waste is ever brought to Yucca Mountain, Loux said the federal government will shift its rail preference to relying on tens of thousands of legal-weight truck shipments, each loaded with a 25-ton nuclear-waste cask. "We think it's less likely to happen simply because of the logistics involved and because the government is not going to make additional expenses if there is a cheaper way to do it," he said about the rail-transport preference. "In the end, I think financial concerns are going to greatly outweigh health and safety concerns," he said. Joe Ziegler, senior technical adviser to the Yucca Mountain Project manager, said there are only "a few reactor sites that don't have rail access or don't have the capability to handle rail casks." "In some cases, we would use heavy haul (trucks) to a rail line or barge it to rail lines because some of the sites are on large bodies of water," he said. "I can tell you that over 95 percent of the transportation, the way we analyzed it, can be done by rail." Bob Halstead, a transportation consultant for the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency, cited two examples of nuclear reactor sites in Wisconsin -- Point Beach and Kewaunee -- that don't have rail access or permanent barge docks. They would need permits to build docks on Lake Michigan so spent fuel casks could be shipped by barge to railheads in Milwaukee. "There would be enormous hostile political opposition in Milwaukee to do that," said Halstead, whose consulting business is located in Portage, Wis., 105 miles west of Milwaukee. Halstead spent 10 years working on nuclear utility issues for the state of Wisconsin. He said there are 18 reactors in 13 states that would need to use barges or heavy haul trucks to transport spent fuel to railheads. He said he has found no analysis in the final impact statement of sabotage involving nuclear waste on barges. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 40 Mayor urges casino interests to end 'eerie silence' on issue Dennis Forst McDonald Investments analyst among casino industry observers uncertain of effects of Yucca dump on tourism Saturday, February 16, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal By DAVE BERNS lasvegas.com GAMING WIRE Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman says some Nevada casino companies have displayed an "eerie silence" in the fight to prevent the opening of a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. But the claim was rejected by Nevada Resort Association President Bill Bible, the casino industry's top Carson City lobbyist, who characterizes Goodman as a "Johnny-come-lately" to the issue. Goodman delivered his comments Friday after sending a letter to the lobbying group in which he asked for an anti-Yucca mobilization of the organization, which includes executives of Park Place Entertainment, MGM Mirage, Mandalay Resort Group, Harrah's Entertainment and Station Casinos. The single-page letter was sent Wednesday, one day before Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended that President Bush designate the Southern Nevada setting as the nation's nuclear waste dump, which could open as early as 2010. Bush accepted the energy chief's recommendation Friday. Goodman, who publicly has characterized Abraham as "that piece of garbage," said there are "a lot of great contributors in the gaming industry" to aid with the battle. "Some of the folks came up with substantial dollars to help in the fight ... but there has been on the other end an eerie silence, and I'm trying to impose my will on them to do what is right for Nevada and right for the country," Goodman said. He cited only two companies -- Station Casinos and Boyd Gaming -- as anti-Yucca players, although he declined to identify others he believes have not contributed to the effort. Station Casinos recently donated $50,000 to a state fund to defeat the Yucca dump, while Goodman characterized Boyd as a good corporate citizen. Boyd President Don Snyder is a key player in Goodman's redevelopment push for downtown Las Vegas, although his company has yet to give money to the Nevada Protection Fund, which exceeds $5 million, chiefly from money donated by state and local governments. When asked why he believes gaming bosses have not been more outspoken in the Yucca battle, Goodman metaphorically described the industry's growing out-of-state casino holdings as a possible reason for limiting their Silver State political efforts. "I can't read other people's minds," he said. "Maybe the cow is so big that the tail is only in Nevada. I would hope they love Las Vegas and Nevada as much as I do." Bible said Friday he had not received Goodman's letter, but he rejected the mayor's characterization of a limited casino industry role in the emotional Yucca battle. "The mayor is not going to have any input as to what the industry does on the Yucca Mountain issue," said Bible, a former Nevada Gaming Control Board chairman and one-time budget director to then-Gov. Richard Bryan in the mid-1980s. "The industry has been involved in the issue since it first arose in the late 70s. "He's kind of a Johnny-come-lately to this issue. As I've said before, we've been involved in this for the last 10 or 15 years. It looks to me like he's trying to take credit for what the industry's been doing and is going to do in the future." In his letter, Goodman argues that: • Yucca Mountain does not meet 293 federal legislative requirements. • 52 million Americans in 43 states live within a half-mile of the routes used to transport the waste from nuclear power plants around the country. • 109 cities with populations of 100,000 or more will be affected as 96,300 shipments pass through their borders for the next 25 to 30 years. • A 1985 U.S. Energy Department report places the clean-up costs of a nuclear rail accident at $2 billion in an urban area and $620 million in a rural community. "It is important to our gaming industry to ensure that its economic vitality continue," the letter reads. "With the risk of nuclear waste being transported and stored only 90 miles northwest of our city such vitality is being subject to threat." Casino industry observers said Friday it is difficult to determine the potential tourism impact of a highly radioactive dump so near Las Vegas. "I have no idea. I am not an expert at all. I haven't given it any thought," McDonald Investments casino industry analyst Dennis Forst said. University of California at Irvine economics Professor Peter Navarro struck a similar tone, saying it is difficult to gauge the visitor impact of a Yucca dump, although the effects of a nuclear spill would be clear. "If that were the case, the economic costs would be very high," Navarro said. "It would be the kind of thing where the fears would be worse than any actual reality." A Clark County study released last month estimates that a roadway accident involving nuclear material on its way to Yucca could eliminate 54,000 jobs in the region, force 90,000 residents to move and cost the local economy $1.4 billion. Las Vegas' tourist-friendly reputation would take an untold hit, observers agreed. "It certainly would be hard to make the argument that having a repository 100 miles away would be good for tourism," Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority spokesman Rob Powers said. "The real question is what impact would it have." At least one travel-industry consultant expressed confidence that hard-core gamblers would continue to travel to Las Vegas if a nuclear waste dump were less than a two-hour drive away. But Minneapolis-based Terry Trippler wondered about the impact of a radioactive dump on the travel plans of young families. "Vegas has a very fragile economy, and it's based on the tourists," Trippler said. "All we need is one even minor nuclear accident, just one, and the families are done. Nobody is going to put their son or daughter in a stroller and go to Luxor or New York-New York because they'll say enough is enough." webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 41 Yucca: Union officials see harm in long run Saturday, February 16, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Most agree that creation of new jobs won't offset negatives on other aspects of economy By HUBBLE SMITH REVIEW-JOURNAL The Yucca Mountain project will create some new jobs in Southern Nevada over the next few years, but it will hurt the local economy and business environment over the long term, union officials said Friday. The Nevada Carpenters and the Culinary unions oppose the nuclear waste dump from both an economic and social basis, but an organizer for Teamsters Local 631 said people should have more of an open mind about the project. "I've told people before you form an opinion on it, go out and take a tour and see what it's about," said Kevin Hardison, business agent for Local 631, which represents several thousand truck drivers in Las Vegas. "To see it on TV is one thing, but to go down into the tunnel is another." About six Teamster drivers are working at the Nevada Test Site, where Yucca Mountain is located, and Hardison said he's heard the project could create between 300 and 1,000 new jobs there. "When this thing goes through, we're going to represent a lot of drivers and construction workers," he said. Marc Furman, senior administrative assistant for Carpenters Local 1780 in Las Vegas, said probably 20 to 30 union carpenters currently work at the site, but it's really not a construction project. "I don't believe it will be a significant number of carpenter jobs because the technology is the big tunnel machine," Furman said. "While there may be jobs, they're not the kind of jobs over the long haul that are good for our members and the community. It may hurt other businesses in the long haul." That's pretty much the same stance taken by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, which withdrew its membership from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year because the larger organization supported the project. "I know one thing the business community is concerned about is the impact on our economy," said Kami Dempsey, director of government affairs for the local chamber. "Our state relies heavily on gaming and tourism to help keep taxes down in other areas." Dempsey said storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain is so far down the line -- with Gov. Kenny Guinn threatening to veto any decision to bring the waste here and lawsuits being filed that will tie it up in court for at least 10 years -- that it's hard to tell exactly how many jobs would be created. "Hopefully, we'd have more security employees and more scientists," she said. D. Taylor, staff director of Culinary Local 226, which has a few workers at the test site, expressed disappointment that President Bush approved a recommendation from Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to store the waste at Yucca Mountain. "It sure makes you appreciate Bill Clinton," Taylor said. "I think overall this is going to be quite bad for the economy here in Southern Nevada. In the broad picture, whatever gains we make would be far less than the losses that we would take." Both Taylor and Furman said it's also an issue for union members who make their home in Southern Nevada and don't want the waste buried in their back yard. "The issue becomes even more pronounced with the potential of some kind of terrorist attack," he said. "If you think Hoover Dam is a target, imagine what the transportation of high-level nuclear waste would be." Dempsey concurred. "It's not so much the storage, but the transportation of it." Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 42 YuccaL CONGRESSIONAL RESPONSE: Lawmakers react on political party lines Saturday, February 16, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Republican vows to swiftly override anticipated veto By TONY BATT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Dennis Hastert will move quickly to override Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn's promised veto of President Bush's decision to designate Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository, a spokesman said Friday. "I can't give you a specific time, but there will be a vote in the House very soon after Kenny Guinn's veto," Hastert spokesman Pete Jeffries said. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, who once said the Yucca Mountain issue is dead as long as Democrats control the Senate, criticized the president's decision Friday. But he did not indicate how the issue will unfold in the Senate. In a letter to congressional leaders, Bush sought the support of Congress for his selection of Yucca Mountain to store 77,000 tons of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel. Congress will have 90 legislative days following a Guinn veto to override Nevada's objection. A simple majority in both chambers would be needed. Hastert, an Illinois Republican whose state has paid more than $2.5 billion into the federal nuclear waste fund since 1983, has been an avid supporter of the move to store waste at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Even before the White House announced Bush's recommendation, Hastert's office issued a statement Friday morning praising the president's action. "After two decades of study, we know this remote location beneath the Nevada desert is a safe, secure and viable site and should be completed without further delay," Hastert said. Shortly before becoming Senate majority leader last year, Daschle visited Las Vegas and announced, "I think the Yucca Mountain issue is dead. ... As long as we're in the majority, it's dead." Daschle, a close ally of Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid, D-Nev., issued a statement Friday criticizing Bush's recommendation. "If this plan becomes law, we'll see 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste shipped on trucks and railcars through 43 states," said Daschle, D-S.D. "That would pose an unacceptably high risk to public health and safety -- especially given the increased threat posed by terrorist attacks." Daschle's statement did not mention the likelihood of Guinn's veto or when the Senate might vote on it. House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., said he will work with other Democratic leaders in the House and Senate to overturn the president's decision. "There is not nearly enough scientific knowledge to reach a conclusion about the safety of transporting, then dumping, thousands of tons of radioactive, nuclear waste in the state of Nevada," Gephardt said. In a satellite feed arranged by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Gephardt said the president's action is another reason why Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., should be re-elected and Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera should win Nevada's new congressional seat. Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, who unsuccessfully sought to speed nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain when he was chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, applauded Bush's decision. "Placing the waste at a single site is not only a prudent measure, it was a promise made more than a decade ago by the federal government to almost every family who pays an electricity bill," Murkowski said in a statement. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the chairman of a House subcommittee that oversees Yucca Mountain, said the president's decision is justified by scientific research. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 43 Real estate agents say decision won't affect LV housing market Saturday, February 16, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal By MATTHEW CROWLEY and HUBBLE SMITH REVIEW-JOURNAL Las Vegas' housing market shouldn't suffer any meltdown because of President Bush's approval of the Yucca Mountain waste site, local real estate agents said Friday. Lynne Battow, an agent with Liberty Realty in Las Vegas who voted for Bush, said house hunters will keep coming here, because people go where there are jobs. "People have to live somewhere," she said. "And with mortgage rates so low, if someone can pay the same for a monthly mortgage on a three-bedroom house in Summerlin as they would for a two-bedroom apartment, it's a no-brainer. They're going to buy the house." Ron Ruthe, owner of Ruthe Realty, said Bush's decision should have no immediate effect on local housing prices since no waste will be coming here for years, if ever. "I heard someone from the county on television who said property values would drop between 3 and 4 percent as soon as the (president's) decision was made," Ruthe said. "I don't believe it for a minute. We (real estate agents) are still getting a lot of calls from people who want to move here because they like the weather, the tax breaks and the kind of lifestyle we can offer." Perry Muscelli, a commercial real estate broker with the Las Vegas office of Cushman &Wakefield, agreed with Ruthe. "I don't think it'll affect property values, not at all," he said. "If anything, we're being stupid. We had a chance to extort a lot of things from the government. You give us the waste, but you also give us the (nuclear) power generation plants and we'll sell it and have a reverse income tax. They'll pay us. It's not far-fetched." Jason Marker, an agent with Grundaker Wardley GMAC Real Estate, said the decision would discourage a small portion of people considering buying homes in Nevada, but only about 10 percent. He also said he thought the decision would stabilize home prices and slow the in-migration of out-of-towners. "The (Yucca decision) and the way the economy is is going to mean people are taking their time coming here," Marker said. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 44 NUCLEAR WASTE REPOSITORY: Bush backs Yucca plan In a letter to Congress, President Bush said Yucca Mountain was "qualified" to serve as a nuclear waste repository. The decision dealt a blow to Nevada officials, including Rep. Shelley Berkley, who said, "As much as I was expecting this decision, it was still like a kick in the gut." Photo by John Gurzinski. Saturday, February 16, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Nevada sues, challenging site suitability By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Friday said yes to Yucca Mountain. Nevada leaders responded hell no. The president selected the flattop ridge 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas to become the nation's burial ground for nuclear waste and directed his administration to continue working toward development of a repository there. "I consider the Yucca Mountain site qualified for an application for a construction authorization for a repository," Bush declared in a letter to congressional leaders in which he called for them to act "in an expedited and bipartisan fashion" to move the project forward. Bush said a Nevada repository will "enhance the safety and security of the nation as a whole." His spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said the president's decision was based on sound science. The intensity of reaction from Nevada made it clear that the state's leaders believe otherwise. Within hours, attorneys for Nevada filed a new lawsuit -- the third in nine months -- charging that the president's decision was based on a flawed recommendation by the Department of Energy and asking that it be set aside. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she was promised by the chairman of the House Transportation Committee on Thursday that hearings will begin by June on nuclear waste transportation at locations around the country. Gov. Kenny Guinn, R-Nev., said he was developing a strategy to time his veto of the plan in a way that Congress might not be able to finalize the site selection this year. Once Guinn delivers his veto, lawmakers will have 90 legislative days to act. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the president "lied" when he promised during the 2000 campaign to base his decision on "sound science, not politics." The White House took exception to Reid's remarks, which he made on CNN. "I think you will see the president made a thoughtful decision based on sound science," presidential spokeswoman Nicolle Devenish said. "Senator Reid's disagreement on the science is a shameful excuse for a false personal attack against the president." The president's decision represented a major milestone in the effort to develop permanent storage for 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and highly radioactive nuclear waste, about half of which already has been gathering at 131 power plants and government facilities in 39 states. It also might be considered a significant date in Nevada history if the government is successful in its effort to bury the waste in a mountain that was formed 13 million years ago by volcanic ash that fell from the sky and flowed over the landscape. Jim Hulse, a retired University of Nevada, Reno history professor, said Yucca Mountain development would rank in state annals with the legalization of gambling in 1931, the formation of federal mining law in 1872 and the opening of the Nevada Test Site in 1951. The government has studied Yucca Mountain for 20 years, so far spending $7 billion on repository research. DOE estimates it could cost another $47 billion to build the facility and begin accepting waste for storage. Even under the most optimistic schedules, a repository wouldn't begin accepting waste until 2010. Having monitored the Energy Department's progress for more than a decade, Nevada leaders say the government has failed to prove that Yucca Mountain can stop radionuclides from escaping about 1,000 feet below the repository floor and into groundwater that flows to Death Valley, jeopardizing public health and safety. Bush, known for making quick and certain decisions, pulled the trigger on this one less than a day after receiving a formal recommendation from Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. Late Thursday, Abraham delivered an 80-pound packet containing DOE scientific and environmental analyses of the site and a 46-page report explaining why he believed Yucca Mountain should proceed. Bush had asked his science adviser, John Marburger III, and James Connaughton, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, "to take a wholly separate look" at what the Energy Department was presenting, Fleischer said. That review was completed before Abraham formally submitted his recommendation. Details of those reviews could not be learned on Friday, but they satisfied Bush. "As a result of what the president has received, the president does have a sufficient scientific basis to make a decision," Fleischer said shortly before the decision was announced. Bush echoed Abraham's recommendation in explaining his decision. The repository program is necessary to "protect public safety, health and the nation's security," he said, by isolating highly radioactive materials "now scattered throughout the nation." Bush, whose budget this year includes a new $38 million program to speed development of new reactors, also said "nuclear energy ... must remain a major component of our national energy policy in the years to come." It might be another two months before Congress can act. Guinn first must formally veto the president's decision, and he indicated he'll take close to the 60 days he is allowed by law. "I want to do it on the date that our lawyers and delegation believe will maximize our ability to best represent Nevada in this war of strategy," he said. "It is going to be difficult," Guinn said of the road ahead. "I believe our best opportunity is in the courts." He said Nevada's chances of success in Congress are not good because it is "Nevada versus 39 other states," those with nuclear plants. In the courts, judges would have to listen to "facts and data" from Nevada and make a decision on that information, Guinn said. He said he believed the Bush administration violated the law by not giving him a copy of the final environmental impact statement on Yucca Mountain before making its decision. That is among the arguments state attorneys cited in the case filed on Friday evening. Guinn was told of Bush's decision in a brief 12:34 p.m. telephone conversation with Bush's chief of staff Andrew Card. Other elected Nevadans said they will redouble efforts on the politically potent issue. "As much as I was expecting this decision, it was still like a kick in the gut," Berkley said. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., noted Yucca Mountain has been advanced by presidents and lawmakers of both parties. "I really think President Bush took our concerns into consideration," he said. "But the Department of Energy has been hell bent on shoving waste into our back yard." Similarly, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said DOE pulled one over on Bush. "They know and we know their science is faulty," he said. "They misled everyone, including the president, his administration and all the American public who believes Yucca Mountain is a good deal." Speaking to reporters on Friday, Abraham defended his recommendation. "It is my strong belief that the science supports the safe use of this repository," he said. Abraham also previewed the DOE's response to Nevada charges that nuclear waste shipments might be vulnerable to attack or accident. "This department has a 30-year-plus track record as they do in other countries as far as moving waste safely," he said. "In Europe they've moved as much waste in the same kind of form as we're talking about without incident." He added that transportation routes and shipment schedules wouldn't be publicized. Terrorists, he said, would have a clearer shot at waste kept in immobile on-site storage. "The fact is the waste is already closer to the people every day of the week than it will be if it moves past a community for five or ten minutes," he said. "We have a perfect track record." The American Nuclear Society, an organization of scientists and engineers devoted to peaceful applications of nuclear science, applauded Bush's endorsement of Yucca Mountain. "While this is just one step toward our ultimate goal of seeing the Department of Energy obtain a license for repository construction, it clears a major hurdle toward solving one of the most controversial issues involving nuclear energy," the society's president, Gail Marcus, said in a statement. Joe Colvin, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, whose members include utilities that would benefit from the repository, said Bush "honored his word." Wenonah Hauter, executive director of the Public Citizen Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program, said activists allied with Nevada plan to campaign in key states. "What is next is a major organizing campaign around the country letting people know this deadly nuclear waste will be moving through their communities," she said. Kalynda Tilges, nuclear issues coordinator for Citizen Alert, a statewide environmental group, said Bush's decision showed "blatant disregard for the citizens of our country. The sheer hubris that has plagued this entire project is the type of thing that started the Boston Tea Party." Mayor Oscar Goodman, who has drawn attention on the Yucca Mountain issue with intemperate remarks about Abraham and former White House Chief of Staff John Sununu, said at an afternoon news conference that even though his "worst nightmare has been realized," the fight is not over. "We are going to do whatever is necessary to make sure Yucca Mountain does not become a reality," said Goodman, who was flanked by Councilmen Gary Reese and Lawrence Weekly and Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera. That includes adding Bush's name to a federal lawsuit filed in January by the city of Las Vegas, Clark County and the state of Nevada seeking to block the project. Goodman said he didn't want to scare anyone, but then said that if high-level nuclear waste is transported from points across the country to Nevada, "It is just a matter of time, God forbid, that one of those cities (along the transportation routes) is destroyed." Herrera, seeking the Democratic nomination in Nevada's new 3rd Congressional District seat, painted the issue in more partisan terms, and noted a recent remark by House Majority Leader Richard Armey of Texas that the issue would be driven by "power politics," not sound science. In contrast to his previous remarks referring to Abraham as both a "fathead" and a "blockhead," Goodman said he would refrain from such language in describing President Bush "out of respect for the office." Keith Rogers, Jan Moller and Ed Vogel of the Review-Journal and Tony Batt of Stephens Washington Bureau contributed to this story. webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 45 LETTER FROM BUSH TO HOUSE, SENATE Saturday, February 16, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal February 15, 2002 Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:) In accordance with section 114 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, 42 U.S.C. 10134 (the "Act"), the Secretary of Energy has recommended approval of the Yucca Mountain site for the development at that site of a repository for the geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high level nuclear waste from the Nation's defense activities. As is required by the Act, the Secretary has also submitted to me a comprehensive statement of the basis of his recommendation. Having received the Secretary's recommendation and the comprehensive statement of the basis of it, I consider the Yucca Mountain site qualified for application for a construction authorization for a repository. Therefore, I now recommend the Yucca Mountain site for this purpose. In accordance with section 114 of the Act, I am transmitting with this recommendation to the Congress a copy of the comprehensive statement of the basis of the Secretary's recommendation prepared pursuant to the Act. The transmission of this document triggers an expedited process described in the Act. I urge the Congress to undertake any necessary legislative action on this recommendation in an expedited and bipartisan fashion. Proceeding with the repository program is necessary to protect public safety, health, and the Nation's security because successful completion of this project would isolate in a geologic repository at a remote location highly radioactive materials now scattered throughout the Nation. In addition, the geologic repository would support our national security through disposal of nuclear waste from our defense facilities. A deep geologic repository, such as Yucca Mountain, is important for our national security and our energy future. Nuclear energy is the second largest source of U.S. electricity generation and must remain a major component of our national energy policy in the years to come. The cost of nuclear power compares favorably with the costs of electricity generation by other sources, and nuclear power has none of the emissions associated with coal and gas power plants. This recommendation, if it becomes effective, will permit commencement of the next rigorous stage of scientific and technical review of the repository program through formal licensing proceedings before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Successful completion of this program also will redeem the clear Federal legal obligation safely to dispose of commercial spent nuclear fuel that the Congress passed in 1982. This recommendation is the culmination of two decades of intense scientific scrutiny involving application of an array of scientific and technical disciplines necessary and appropriate for this challenging undertaking. It is an undertaking that was mandated twice by the Congress when it legislated the obligations that would be redeemed by successful pursuit of the repository program. Allowing this recommendation to come into effect will enable the beginning of the next phase of intense scrutiny of the project necessary to assure the public health, safety, and security in the area of Yucca Mountain, and also to enhance the safety and security of the Nation as a whole. Sincerely, GEORGE W. BUSH webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 46 YUCCA MOUNTAIN: OFFICIAL COMMENTS Saturday, February 16, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Las Vegas City Councilman Gary Reese, left, Mayor Oscar Goodman, Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrera and City Councilman Lawrence Weekly field questions during a Friday news conference held in response to President Bush's approval of a Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Photo by Amy Beth Bennett. "We are going to do whatever is necessary to make sure Yucca Mountain does not become a reality." -- Mayor Oscar Goodman "If this plan becomes law, we'll see 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste shipped on trucks and railcars through 43 states. That would pose an unacceptably high risk to public health and safety, especially given the increased threat posed by terrorist attacks." Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2002 ***************************************************************** 47 YUCCA MOUNTAIN: LOCAL COMMENTS Saturday, February 16, 2002 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal "If you are going to bring it this far, why not drop it in the ocean and kill all the fish instead of letting our property values go down? ... I love this state, but if you have an accident, where are you going to go? If you own a home you are stuck." Terry White, 34, Las Vegas businessman and parent "With all the doctors leaving, we are going to have people with four heads and no doctors to deal with the problems." Julie White, 33, Las Vegas glass company employee "I was afraid it would go that way in the first place. I don't think we had a lot of choices. ... When my husband retires, I would think about leaving (Las Vegas) because that stuff scares me." Coleen Rosario, 64, Las Vegas resident "When I came here I had no idea they were going to store nuclear waste near where people live. It makes me think twice about living here, because you never know what might happen." Gleci-Anne Garcia, 18, UNLV nursing student from San Jose, Calif. "It is mostly the Energy secretary's fault. He visited the site without thorough consideration on his part. He had his decision made before he visited the site." Bumjin Lee, 24, UNLV student from Korea "We have one child and another on the way, and it is very upsetting. ... How would he (Bush) feel if his family was staying in Las Vegas? Is there no concern for the people of Las Vegas and Nevada?" Stanley Hicks, 23, electronics store worker "All the politicians are running around like chickens with their heads cut off, and I don't think most people in this community think it is a big deal." Don Laws, 60, Las Vegas resident "The tourists aren't going to see any difference. Yucca Mountain is a long way from here, and they won't notice." Gordon Walker, Salt Lake City businessman "I wouldn't come back to visit. ... The government doesn't have the right to force it on people. That's the way our government is working these days. They do what they want. We have absolutely no voice in our government. ... I think we all need to go throw some tea into Boston Harbor." Harry Miller, 54, Philadelphia commuter railroad employee "We flew into Los Angeles and I thought the air pollution was shocking. I would rather come here, knowing nuclear waste is 100 miles away, than go there again." Michael Greensmith, 35, an electrician from London, England webmaster@lvrj.com Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - ***************************************************************** 48 Bush Greenlights Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Dump Environment News Service: WASHINGTON, DC, February 15, 2002 (ENS) - President George W. Bush today approved the Energy Secretary's recommendation of Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, as the nation's first long term underground repository for high level radioactive waste. [Bush] President George W. Bush (Photo courtesy The White House) Currently, the 77,000 tons of high level nuclear waste, generated by power reactors and nuclear weapons production, is stored in temporary surface storage facilities located at 131 sites in 39 states. In a letter to Congressional leaders announcing his decision, President Bush said that proceeding with the repository program "is necessary to protect public safety, health, and the nation's security because successful completion of this project would isolate in a geologic repository at a remote location highly radioactive materials now scattered throughout the nation." "Nuclear energy is the second largest source of U.S. electricity generation and must remain a major component of our national energy policy in the years to come," Bush wrote. "The cost of nuclear power compares favorably with the costs of electricity generation by other sources, and nuclear power has none of the emissions associated with coal and gas power plants." Bush wrote that if his recommendation becomes effective, it will permit "commencement of the next rigorous stage of scientific and technical review of the repository program through formal licensing proceedings before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Successful completion of this program also will redeem the clear Federal legal obligation safely to dispose of commercial spent nuclear fuel that the Congress passed in 1982." [Yucca] Aerial view of Yucca Mountain, Nevada (Photo courtesy Yucca Mountain Project [http://www.ymp.gov] ) The President's decision outraged Nevada elected officials and environmentalists and delighted the nuclear industry. Joe Colvin, president and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Energy Institute, applauded the President. "After almost two decades of exhaustive scientific evaluation showing that the site is suitable to isolate and safely dispose of used nuclear fuel, the federal government is acting responsibly and taking steps to fulfill its obligation to the American people," he said. Nevada Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat, said, "President Bush has betrayed our trust and endangered the American public." Senator Reid said the President "lied" to him and to the people of Nevada because "just last week in a meeting with Senator [John] Ensign, Governor Guinn and me at the White House [he] again vowed to wait until he received and reviewed all of the scientific evidence on Yucca Mountain. Today President Bush has broken his promise," Reid said because the President had no time to review the final Environmental Impact Statement on Yucca Mountain which he received only last night. [Reid] Senator Harry Reid represents Nevada (Photo courtesy Office of the Senator) "Let's be clear," said Reid, "before getting on a plane to fly over to Asia, President Bush has dropped the equivalent of 100,000 dirty bombs on America," said Reid, referring to the President's week long trip to China, Japan and Korea which starts Saturday. "I say this because to carry out President Bush's plan would require shipment of nuclear waste on 100,000 trucks or 20,000 rail cars through 43 states. The President has created 100,000 targets of opportunity for terrorists who have proven their capability of hitting targets far less vulnerable than a truck on the open highway," Reid warned. Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn, a Republican, immediately announced that he will exercise his Notice of Disapproval to the U.S. Congress, known the Governor’s Veto. Congress would then have 90 legislative days in which it could override Guinn's veto on a simple majority vote. [Guinn] Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn (Photo courtesy Office of the Governor) “I am outraged, as are the citizens of Nevada, that this decision would go forward with so many unanswered questions,” Guinn said. “As I mentioned to the President, I believe that we deserve a scientific response to the nearly 300 critical questions the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has stated must be resolved before going forward with Yucca Mountain.” “As a state we are solidly united to continue our fight against Yucca Mountain becoming the nation’s nuclear dump," the governor said. The state of Nevada has mounted one lawsuit against the waste dump, and state attorneys are preparing to file another legal action challenging the energy secretary's recommendation. "We will exhaust every option and press our legal case to the limit," vowed Governor Guinn. "The Nevada Legislature, cities, counties and now the private sector have raised $5.4 million toward our fight." [Abraham] Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham with some of the Yucca Mountain documentation (Photo courtesy DOE [http://www.energy.gov] ) Citing "compelling national interests" Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham last night formally recommended Yucca Mountain to the President as "scientifically and technically suitable for development." He submitted a final Environmental Impact Statement that he said relies on "more than 20 years and $4 billion in scientific study." In his letter of recommendation to the President, Secretary Abraham said national interests that require development of a repository include, "energy and national security, homeland security, nuclear nonproliferation policy, secure disposal of nuclear waste, and ongoing efforts to clean up the environment at former nuclear weapons production sites." In addressing homeland security, Abraham said, "More than 161 million people live within 75 miles of one or more of these sites. The facilities housing these materials were intended to do so on a temporary basis. They should be able to withstand current terrorist threats, but that may not remain the case in the future. These materials would be far better secured in a deep underground repository at Yucca Mountain." Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, a Democrat, says Abraham's decision was politically motivated. "The recommendation by Spencer Abraham is corrupt and morally bankrupt. All the evidence has indicated that a recommendation right now is dangerously premature, and the height of irresponsibility. Spencer Abraham is a long time proponent of the dump, and he has clearly allowed his personal views and political pressures to influence his judgment." Abraham said he is satisfied that Yucca Mountain is a safe place for the nation's nuclear waste. "Irrespective of any other considerations, I could not and would not recommend the Yucca Mountain site without having first determined that a repository at Yucca Mountain will bring together the location, natural barriers, and design elements necessary to protect the health and safety of the public." [scientists] Project scientists have been studying faults and monitoring earthquakes in the region surrounding Yucca Mountain for 10 years. (Photo courtesy YMP) But Governor Guinn is far from satisfied. The Department of Energy (DOE) "has failed to prove that nuclear waste will not leak into the water table," he said today. "The General Accounting Office and the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board also support this view. DOE has not completed the site characterization in compliance with the law. Nearly 300 key scientific studies in nine critical areas identified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are incomplete." The governor says he was not provided with the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in time for “meaningful review,” in violation of the intent of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. “Receiving the final EIS just hours before the Presidential decision hardly provides me and the state of Nevada meaningful review,” Governor Guinn said. “Once again, this is an outrage.” Anna Aurilio, legislative director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups, says the White House ignored sound science in approving the Yucca Mountain site. "This is another example of the White House favoring Enron, Entergy and Xxelon over public health and the environment," she said. "Nuclear waste is one of the most dangerous substances created by humans. This waste remains dangerous for at least a quarter of a million years." The scientific studies conducted by the Energy Department were designed to cover the performance of the repository over the 10,000 year regulatory period. [map] Map showing road (blue) and rail (red) routes for planned nuclear shipments in Illinois. U.S. Map and one for each of 43 states also online at Senator Reid's website [http://www.senate.gov/~reid/] . (Map courtesy Office of Senator Reid) What worries many critics of Yucca Mountain are the dangers posed by the transportation of high level radioactive waste across the nation by road and rail. Nevada lawmakers in Congress are analyzing a U.S. Army videotape showing that a metal cask used to store a transport nuclear waste can be damaged by an anti-tank missile of a type common worldwide. A report in the "Las Vegas Sun" newspaper February 10 said the tape shows two experiments conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Army at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland on June 25, 1998. One test explosion created a "softball sized hole all the way through the [metal] container," according to the newspaper which said it had reviewed the tape. The other test cracked a cask surrounded by by metal plus a concrete shield but did not completely penetrate it. This weekend, a forum for Western states advocates from communities living with nuclear reactors and communities facing proposed high level nuclear waste dumps is being held in Fresno, California, hosted by HOME (Healing Ourselves &Mother Earth) and San Luis Obispo County Grandmothers For Peace. HOME director Jennifer Viereck said, "Those of us living in the shadow of Yucca Mountain are appalled at the callousness of Secretary Abraham and President Bush. Moving this proposal forward on Valentine's Day shows clearly who loves the nuclear industry in Washington. Given the potential for terrorist attacks on these shipments and the site itself, we are calling this irresponsible scheme to dump on us the Axles of Evil." Kalynda Tilges, nuclear issues coordinator for Las Vegas based group Citizen Alert, says with this decision the President has aroused the anger of voters across the country, particularly in states through which the radioactive waste will be shipped. "I think that if President Bush is considering running for reelection, he is making a very serious mistake." Tilges says there will be demonstrations against the decision, and if Yucca Mountain shipments eventually go ahead, "I will be standing in front of the first truck of the first gate they send it from, and I will not be alone. And if I'm not dead, when I get out of jail, I'll go stand in front of the next one. They will bring nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain over my dead body." © Environment News Service (ENS) 2001. ***************************************************************** 49 Yucca: Some scientists, environmentalists say decision premature Las Vegas SUN February 15, 2002 By Mary Manning Some scientists and environmentalists criticized Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's decision to recommend Yucca Mountain, saying the decision is premature, because not all of the scientific facts are available. "This is not a routine political decision," said Arjun Makhijani, director of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Takoma Park, Md. The institute is an independent scientific think tank. "Such a decision should not be done in a rush, receive it today, sign off on it tomorrow," he said. "I think it would not be appropriate for the president to accept a decision by the (Department of Energy) without consulting with someone outside the administration. "Plutonium's half life is 100 times older than the age of the United States," Makhijani said of one of the deadliest radioactive elements destined for a Yucca Mountain repository. Allison Macfarlane, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology geologist, said it's too early to make a decision on Yucca Mountain. "I think it's premature based on science," Macfarlane said. "They don't have enough data on which to base a decision." Macfarlane, a senior research associate in MIT's Security Studies Program, is editing a book for the public and policy makers with nuclear engineer Rodney Ewing about the unresolved issues of a Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The project is funded, in part, by support from the John Merck Fund and the Rockefeller Financial Services. Geologists have not had a chance to study the ramifications of burying 77,000 tons of nuclear waste inside Yucca Mountain for 10,000 years, Macfarlane said. If the Bush administration expands nuclear power, existing reactors operating for another 20 years would double the amount of waste destined for Yucca Mountain, Macfarlane said. "I think they will have a problem putting all of it in the mountain," she said. "This is a geologic issue, not just one for nuclear engineers and physicists," Macfarlane said. "Geologists have not had enough say in this issue." But there are many hurdles before a Yucca Mountain repository would open, including a vote to overturn Governor Guinn's expected veto, lawsuits filed by Nevada or proving the site to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license, Macfarlane said. Environmental groups were also disappointed in the decision to recommend Yucca Mountain. "It is completely unacceptable that this project seems to be based strictly on politics and not science," said Kalynda Tilges, nuclear issues coordinator for Citizen Alert, a statewide environmental watchdog group. Tilges noted that the president is the one person in the decision process who does not have a statutory time limit. "Why is the president the only not given a time limit?" Tilges asked, answering, "Because he is the person who is responsible for public health and safety. "The first and only imperative should be the health and safety of all Americans." All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 50 Yucca: Charo sends Bush video message Las Vegas SUN February 15, 2002 LAS VEGAS SUN Strip entertainer Charo has become the latest opponent of a nuclear waste dump and sent a little of her "cuchi-cuchi" to President Bush. "I admire all the job you're doing about the terrorists," Charo told the president in a video message she recorded Thursday at Las Vegas City Hall. "But leave nuclear waste where it is. Everybody in Las Vegas is very worried." A native of Spain, Charo said she practically grew up in Las Vegas, where she first began appearing at age 17. "I love Las Vegas," the 60-year-old said, constantly trying to close a tiny, glittering, pink bolero jacket. "We have a lot in common. We keep on working." In addition to Charo, about 140 residents recorded similar messages earlier in the week. Only one person sent Bush a message in support of a nuclear waste dump, city officials said. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 51 Sununu 'very impressed' with work done at Yucca Las Vegas SUN February 15, 2002 By Mary Manning Former White House chief of staff John Sununu said Thursday he was "very impressed" with work being done at Yucca Mountain and was pleased that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended the site as the nation's nuclear waste repository. Sununu and former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, who both took a daylong tour of the site, were hired by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year to promote the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas as a repository. President Bush could accept Abraham's recommendation as early as today. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, which has severed ties with the national organization over the Yucca issue, wasn't notified of the pair's plan to tour the facility, said Catherine Levy, director of media relations. On Jan. 31 of last year the local chamber passed a resolution that "expresses its strong opposition" to storing nuclear waste in Nevada. Abraham toured Yucca Mountain in January and, just three days later, notified Gov. Kenny Guinn of his intentions to recommend the site to Bush, who met with members of Nevada's congressional delegation last week. Sununu, a former governor of New Hampshire, and Ferraro said 293 unanswered questions of science -- which must be answered before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses the site -- will be resolved. "Scientific assessments and site characterization support it," Sununu said. Should the site open the Department of Energy plans to begin accepting high-level nuclear by 2010. Containers of spent nuclear fuel will be transported -- possibly through Las Vegas -- from sites across the nation to eventually be stored at Yucca Mountain. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who held a press conference soon after Abraham recommended the site to Bush, called Sununu a "prostitute" for the nuclear industry. "Sununu doesn't want nuclear waste in his state," Goodman said. "I think he's a fraud and a sham, and I don't want him in my state." The DOE has studied the mountain for 15 years, and has spent about $8 billion. All contents copyright 2002 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 52 Nevada governor pledges to veto president's Yucca Mountain plan [RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL] Associated Press [online@rgj.com] 2/15/2002 02:10 pm Reaction in Nevada was swift and critical to President Bush's decision Friday to build a national nuclear waste dump in the state. "I am outraged, as are the citizens of Nevada,"said Gov. Kenny Guinn, who announced he will veto Bush's decision and send the matter to Congress. "As a state, we are solidly united to continue our fight against Yucca Mountain,"Guinn said, adding that the state has built a $5.4 million fund to fight the dump site. The state has promised more lawsuits against the plan that would store 77,000 tons of the nation's nuclear waste in series of underground tunnels. Yucca Mountain is at the western edge of the federal government's Nevada Test Site, 90 miles from Las Vegas. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Bush of breaking a written campaign promise to rely on sound science, not politics, to make his decision on the Yucca Mountain project. "All Americans should be concerned, not just because he lied to me or the people of Nevada,"said Reid, who has pledged to use his position as the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate to marshal votes against the plan. "The president's decision threatens American lives,"Reid declared."I say this because to carry out President Bush's plan would require shipment of nuclear waste ... through 43 states." The president's decision came less than 24 hours after Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham formally declared the Yucca Mountain site suitable for the repository. It was the only site under study. The earliest Yucca Mountain could begin accepting spent nuclear fuel is 2010. U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said the president was"misled"by the Energy Department. "Unfortunately, the DOE continues to ignore the serious concerns and criticisms leveled by independent scientists and experts,"Gibbons said."The president relied upon the scientific information presented by the DOE, which for years has rushed headlong toward approving Yucca Mountain." "I think it's a premature decision,"said Allison Mcfarlane, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has studied the Yucca Mountain project for several years. She referred to a General Accounting Office review that cited 293 unresolved technical issues and recommended Bush postpone a decision, and to a report by an independent Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board that criticized the Energy Department's scientific work at Yucca Mountain. "I think there are enough scientific and technical issues that are unresolved that it could affect the safety of the repository,"Mcfarlane said by telephone from Boston. Nevada lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had been trying to persuade Bush to reject the recommendation for scientific and political reasons. "Now the real battle will begin,"said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who last month warned that Bush could cost Republicans two hotly contested congressional seats in Nevada and threaten the GOP's narrow majority in the House if he approved the Yucca Mountain project. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett ***************************************************************** 53 Lawmakers say Yucca challenge will be tough [RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL] By Doug Abrahms [online@rgj.com] Gannett News Service 2/15/2002 10:14 pm WASHINGTON —Nevada lawmakers conceded Friday they face a difficult task in trying to persuade Congress to override efforts to turn Yucca Mountain into a nuclear waste dump. Republican Rep. James Gibbons said he already has been lobbying House members against Yucca Mountain but knows that winning over enough votes to sustain Nevada’s veto of the site will be difficult. “I’m not sure that time is on our side,” Gibbons said about Nevada’s lobbying effort. Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn announced plans to reject the president’s decision. The Yucca Mountain decision would then move back to Washington, where both the House and Senate are expected to approve the site. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who says a centralized nuclear waste dump will be safer from any terrorist threat than dumps scattered in more than 100 locations across the nation, supports Yucca Mountain. The bigger battle will be waged in the Senate, where Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., has said Yucca Mountain is dead as long as Democrats control the Senate. But Nevada’s senators are less optimistic now that Bush has formerly proposed the site. “Senator Reid said there’s less than a 50-50 chance of defeating this thing said Reid spokesman Nathan Naylor. “This is going to be an uphill battle.” Nevada’s lawmakers will play up the high cost of the nuclear waste dump, which is estimated at more than $70 billion and growing. They will intensify a lobbying campaign about the dangers of shipping 77,000 tons of nuclear waste over the nation’s rail lines and interstate highways. Reid probably can count on at least 30 Democratic votes in the Senate to block Yucca, Naylor said, but some Republicans will have to be won over. “A lot of the new prospecting has to come from Senator John Ensign,” Naylor said of Nevada’s Republican senator. Ensign could not be reached for comment but said in a statement he was disappointed. “I really think President Bush took our concerns, expressed during our recent meeting, into consideration,” he said. “But the Department of Energy has been hell bent on solving waste into our backyard, regardless of what science and common sense show.” Gibbons also did not blame Bush. “The administration is not our enemy in this — it’s the law that was created (in the 1980s),” he said. “I think a lot of us in Nevada will rely on Daschle’s statement that Yucca Mountain is dead.” Nevada also will sue to try to block the Yucca Mountain facility from being built. But Nevada lawmakers will have a tough time stopping the initiative on Capitol Hill, even with Reid as majority whip, said Marshall Wittmann, a conservative analyst at the Hudson Institute. “As a state, its delegation carries little weight,” he said. “Unless there’s some political dynamic that changes, (the nuclear waste) is going there.” © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett ***************************************************************** 54 Bush OKs Yucca Mountain in Nevada for storing nuclear waste [RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL] ASSOCIATED PRESS 2/15/2002 10:24 pm WASHINGTON — President Bush approved Nevada’s Yucca Mountain on Friday as the site for long-term disposal of thousands of tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste. In a letter to congressional leaders, Bush said a central disposal site for as much as 77,000 tons of waste that is building up at sites across the country “is necessary to protect public safety, health and this nation’s security.” He noted that Nevada was expected to file a protest that will leave the final decision on whether to proceed up to Congress. Nevada officials have argued that the government can’t ensure the public will be protected over the thousands of years the waste will remain dangerous. The site is 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, one of the fastest growing urban areas in the country. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Bush of breaking a campaign promise in which to told Nevadans he would base a decision on Yucca Mountain on “sound science not politics.” “Today President Bush broke this promise,” said Reid. But Bush said his decision “is the culmination of two decades of intense scientific scrutiny” and that he is certain the science is sound. The plan calls for putting the waste, mostly used reactor fuel rods from commercial power plants, into volcanic rock 950 feet below the desert surface. Nevada’s Republican governor, Kenny Guinn, said he was outraged. Within hours, Nevada filed suit in federal court arguing the way the Energy Department came to its conclusions in recommending the site violated a 1982 nuclear waste law. The suit had been expected. Bush followed the recommendation of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham who in a telephone call with reporters said, “It is my strong belief the science supports the safe use of this repository.” “We feel strongly this make sense to the nation,” said Abraham, noting that Yucca Mountain would provide a place not only for commercial waste but also used nuclear fuel from the Navy and high-level waste from nuclear weapons sites. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., whose state has 11 commercial power reactors, said the Yucca Mountain facility “should be completed without further delay.” He said he is certain the site “is safe, secure and viable.” But House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri, expressed concern about the thousands of waste shipments that will have to crisscross the country. With most nuclear power plants in the eastern third of the country, many of those shipment move through Missouri. Abraham said the waste can be transported safely, and “it poses a greater risks to the communities where it is” now kept since many of the power plants are near urban areas. Congress will have to decide, by majority vote of both houses, whether to uphold the decision or side with Nevada and find another site for the more than 40,000 tons of waste now kept at commercial reactors in 34 states as well as waste kept at defense sites. The president’s action marks a major step in the decades-long dispute over what to do with the waste generated by commercial nuclear power plants and by the government nuclear weapons program. The waste at commercial reactors is growing by 2,000 tons a year. Unless Congress sides with Nevada, the Energy Department’s next step will be to get a license for the Yucca facility from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a process that could take several years. No waste is expected to be shipped to the site before 2010 and even that target is likely to slip. Abraham recommended a green light be given to the Yucca project in a letter to the president late Thursday. He said a review of 20 years of scientific studies had convinced him the waste could be kept at the site without risk. Reid called the choice to go ahead with the project “a hasty, poor and indefensible decision” at a time when “the science does not yet exist” to ensure the waste can be contained. Under a 1987 law, which limited the scientific studies on a possible site to Yucca Mountain, Nevada can file an objection and stop the project. But Congress, in turn, can override the objection. If it is built, the facility would hold up to 77,000 tons of used reactor fuel rods from 73 operating and mothballed nuclear power plants in 34 states and from federal weapons facilities. Some of the radioisotopes will remain deadly for more than 10,000 years. Abraham said he told the president in his letter that he “could not and would not recommend the Yucca Mountain site without having first determined that (it will) …protect the health and safety of the public.” He said that “compelling national interests” — made even more apparent by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — require development of a remote centralized disposal site. “More than 161 million people live within 75 miles of one or more of these sites” now holding the waste, he said. Nevada Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn and members of the state’s congressional delegation made an appeal at the White House last week asking that Bush not act hastily. © Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a [http://www.gannett.com] Newspaper. Use ***************************************************************** 55 Nevada Nuclear Waste Site Affirmed (washingtonpost.com) Amid Opposition, Bush Calls Facility Vital to Security By Eric Pianin Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, February 16, 2002; Page A01 President Bush yesterday authorized construction of a huge, centralized site for nuclear waste storage 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, saying that the long-debated project was essential to the future of the nuclear power industry and the nation's security. Despite the strong objections of Nevada officials, state business leaders and environmentalists, Bush affirmed Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's recent finding that the proposed project beneath Yucca Mountain is "scientifically sound and suitable," and would enhance protection against terrorist attacks by consolidating nuclear waste in an underground desert tomb. "Proceeding with the repository program is necessary to protect public safety, health and the nation's security," Bush said in a letter notifying Congress of his decision. Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn (R) vowed to oppose the project, which means a final decision will be left to Congress, where a majority of lawmakers strongly favor disposing of states' nuclear waste in the remote Nevada site. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will have to issue a license for the site, and opponents are challenging the project in court. While the waste disposal issue has been debated for more than 20 years, this is the first time a president has formally settled on a site to bury a vast portion of the country's nuclear waste -- as much as 77,000 tons of it. Currently, more than 40,000 tons of spent nuclear material are being stored in 131 above-ground facilities in 39 states, and 161 million Americans live within 75 miles of these sites. About 2,000 tons of nuclear waste are generated every year. Administration officials contend that one central site would meet "compelling national interests" by consolidating nuclear waste to enhance protection against terrorists. The waste would be stored in metal cannisters several hundred feet underground. Opponents say the administration has rushed to judgment before resolving hundreds of scientific and technical problems. They warn that the president, in taking a stand favored by his allies in the energy and nuclear power industry, has put himself in a difficult political situation. Analysts and politicians from both parties agree that Bush's decision to approve the controversial project early in his first term brings political risk for the president and his party. Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) warned recently that voter backlash could cost the Republicans one or two congressional seats in the state as the GOP struggles to retain control of the House. Clark County Commissioner Dario Herrer (D) and state Sen. John Porter (R) are battling over a newly created suburban Las Vegas House seat. While both candidates oppose the Yucca Mountain project, some analysts believe that Porter may be hurt by the president's decision. Moreover, Bush could have trouble holding Nevada's five electoral votes in 2004 if widespread anger over his decision persists. "This decision represents political peril not only for the White House potentially losing the House but also losing the presidency in '04," said Jenny Backus, communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "At the very least, it means an otherwise popular administration will not be able to go in there and be of much help to the Republicans," added Charles E. Cook Jr., a prominent political analyst. Underscoring the political sensitivity of the issue, the president's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, notified Guinn last month that the Energy Department would recommend the designation of Yucca as the nuclear site. Guinn replied: "That stinks," according to the governor's spokesman. Bush carried Nevada in 2000 after pledging that he would oppose designation of Yucca Mountain as a temporary or permanent repository for nuclear waste "unless it has been deemed scientifically safe." Bush and Abraham yesterday stressed they had acted only after being convinced that the project was scientifically sound. "Irrespective of any other consideration, I could not and would not recommend the Yucca Mountain site without having first determined that a repository will bring together the location, natural barriers and design elements necessary to protect the health and safety of the public . . . now and long into the future," Abraham said. Despite those assurances, Nevada officials and environmentalists and their allies on Capitol Hill contend there is overwhelming scientific evidence that the government cannot store radioactive waste beneath Yucca Mountain without groundwater being contaminated by long-term leaching. Critics also say the Energy Department has virtually ignored the risks of transporting the deadly waste through 43 states, within one mile of 50 million Americans, providing another target for terrorists. The remote site 1,000 feet beneath Yucca Mountain was the sole candidate of Congress and the Energy Department for the past 20 years. Some Nevada residents believed they were singled out because they lacked the political clout of other states, such as Texas and Washington, that were previously considered for the waste site. "I am outraged, as are the citizens of Nevada, that this decision would go forward with so many unanswered questions," Guinn said. Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declared that "President Bush has betrayed our trust and endangered the American public," and Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) described the decision as "premature and irresponsible." The General Accounting Office has raised numerous questions about the scientific underpinnings of the project. Last month the federal government's Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board reported that "the technical basis for the DOE's repository performance estimates is weak to moderate at this time." Recently, a former head of the project said U.S. officials have known since 1995 that the site's geologic features would not adequately protect groundwater and air from potential radioactivity, as the original congressional mandate calls for. However, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and officials of the nuclear energy industry hailed the president's decision as critical to the country's long-term energy and domestic security needs. Joe Colvin, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said that after almost two decades of "exhaustive scientific evaluation showing that the site is suitable," the administration "is acting responsibly and taking steps to fulfill its obligation to the American people." © 2002 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 56 Yucca: Nuclear waste disposal US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham made known Jan 10 what had to be the worst-kept secret in the history of the nuclear industry: Yucca Mountain will be recommended to President George W. Bush as the permanent warehouse for the United State's radioactive castoffs beginning in 2010. Abraham, in his letter to Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn, cited four reasons for a repository, including: • National security, as the nation moves forward with its non-proliferation goals. • The need to "enhance protection against terrorists' attacks." Playing on the events of Sep 11, Abraham said a repository was important to consolidate spent fuel and high-level waste in one location rather than the current 131 sites in 39 states. • Energy security. • Environmental protection. Now the process of determining where to put what no-one wants will assuredly move from the assessment stage to the stage of legalities, as every Nevada politician - from the mayor of Las Vegas to the governor - have vowed to take the federal government to court to stop any waste being sent to the Silver State before, during or after the proposed opening of Yucca Mountain in 2010. © Copyright Platts 2000-2002 [A Division of The McGraw-Hill Companies] ***************************************************************** 57 Nuclear Dump Decision Concerns Missouri Leaders KSDK NewsChannel 5 - News Article 2/15/2002 11:31:41 PM (AP)- President Bush's blessing to a proposed Nevada nuclear waste dump is rekindling concerns about the prospects of radioactive shipments coming through Missouri. Senator Kit Bond of Missouri says he has government assurances that any westbound radioactive waste would be shipped safely through Missouri. But a spokesman for Governor Holden says he isn't convinced, pointing to a nuclear shipment the state considered botched last year through St. Louis. Last year, Holden complained to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham that a shipment arrived at St. Louis' outskirts about rush hour. After Holden sought to delay the convoy, the trucks were allowed to proceed more than four hours later. Holden accused the department of breaking agreements on the shipment. He asked Abraham to rethink shipping the material through the state, especially through densely populated areas. In its official notice, the department wrote that the waste would go through Iowa, not Missouri. All Material Property of KSDK-TV ©2002 ***************************************************************** 58 Nuclear Dump in Nev. Gets Bush OK [Los Angeles Times February 16, 2002 [*] Environment: The decision to bury waste at the Yucca Mountain site enrages governor, who vows to fight the plan. By TOM GORMAN and JAMES GERSTENZANG, Times Staff Writers LAS VEGAS -- President Bush approved Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the burial ground for the nation's radioactive nuclear waste Friday, and an enraged Gov. Kenny Guinn promptly sued to block the proposal. "I am outraged, as are the citizens of Nevada, that this decision would go forward with so many unanswered questions," Guinn said. Nevada has set aside $5.4 million and hired lawyers in San Francisco and Washington to fight the decision in the courts. In a letter to Congress, Bush said that, based on the advice of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Yucca Mountain is "qualified" to serve as a repository, which he said "is important for our national security and our energy future." The state immediately answered by filing a lawsuit in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, challenging Abraham's recommendation of Yucca Mountain and Bush's acceptance of it, on the grounds that the site doesn't meet Congress' criteria for a nuclear waste repository. "Now the real battle will begin," said John Ensign, Nevada's Republican senator. Nevada's other senator, Democratic Whip Harry Reid, said Bush "has betrayed our trust and endangered the American public" by deciding to ship 77,000 tons of nuclear waste cross country to the bulbous mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Reid noted that when Bush campaigned in Nevada in 2000, he promised to make a decision based on science instead of politics. "Today, President Bush has broken his promise," Reid said Friday. "All Americans should be concerned, not just because he lied to me or the people of Nevada and indeed all Americans, but because the president's decision threatens American lives." Guinn, a Republican, said he would formally oppose the development of Yucca Mountain by exercising his "notice of disapproval." The governor has 60 days to reject the project, and he said Friday that he was trying to determine the best timing. Once he vetoes the president's decision, Congress has 90 working days to overrule him by simple majority votes in both houses of Congress. By delaying his veto, Guinn said, Reid and Ensign will have more time to lobby fellow senators to support Nevada. Reid and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) have pledged to block congressional support for Yucca Mountain but have conceded they are unsure of their chances. Bush's decision was "premature and irresponsible," Daschle said Friday. "This isn't a political issue; it's a public safety issue." Opponents of the nuclear waste dump--including Nevada's politicians, environmentalists, scientists and anti-nuclear advocates--have long braced themselves for Bush's announcement and renewed their vows Friday to fight the decision. Their actions include lawsuits alleging that the Energy Department has ignored its congressional mandate to find a geologically sound burial ground and grass-roots campaigning in concert tours by Bonnie Raitt and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The battle line over Yucca Mountain will be drawn between the states that will benefit from sending their nuclear waste to Nevada and those states that don't want casks of radioactive material traveling along their highways and railroad lines. Abraham has said the risks of transporting radioactive waste to Nevada are outweighed by the dangers of leaving the material at 131 nuclear power plants in 39 states around the nation--at sites within 75 miles of towns and cities in which 161 million Americans live. Nuclear waste from military installations also will be shipped to Nevada. Based on preliminary planning, nuclear waste will travel through 42 states on its way to Nevada, frequently in amounts greater than what is generated in some of those states' own nuclear plants. Even assuming the nuclear waste can be delivered here safely, Nevada officials complain that Yucca Mountain offers no geological safeguards against radioactive leakage. The Energy Department has conceded in recent years that the treeless Yucca Mountain--a volcanic ridge that rises 1,300 feet above the desert valley and is broken with 34 earthquake faults--is not sufficient by itself to contain radioactivity. The material will be stored in vaults buried in tunnels deep inside the mountain, with the government's expectation they will remain safe for 10,000 years. Some scientists are worried that water trickling through the mountain will corrode the casks and that radiation will seep into the desert aquifer. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said she was disappointed by Bush's decision and was concerned that ground water contamination "may pose a serious threat to the health and safety of Californians." The Government Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, concluded in December that nearly 300 scientific and engineering questions remain unanswered and that the government's hope to open the facility by 2010 is unrealistic. It said the government doesn't know how long it will take to prepare Yucca Mountain and at what cost. Even if Congress approves Yucca Mountain this year, the repository must be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, prompting further scientific debate. Mitch Singer, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's lobbying organization, said he is confident Congress will override Guinn's veto and endorse Yucca Mountain. "We don't think there will be a serious problem getting a decision," he said. Congress in 1982 promised the nuclear power industry it would find a place to store its radioactive waste by 1999. Since 1987, the only venue under consideration has been Yucca Mountain, which straddles the Nevada Test Site where 928 nuclear tests occurred between 1951 and 1992. Guinn said Nevada has learned its lessons in dealing with the federal government over the years and is wary of its promises that Yucca Mountain is safe. "In the 1950s, we took the government at its word when they said underground testing would be safe," Guinn said. "We said, fine, OK, we're patriotic. Then they started above-ground testing and said, oh, it's safe, you can go out on the hill and watch. "Well, we found out they weren't right," Guinn said. "We're a much bigger state today--the fastest growing in the nation--and we have an obligation not only to ourselves but to our neighbors to fight this." The population of the Las Vegas Valley is about 1.4 million people today, more than double what it was when Yucca Mountain was targeted as a dump site 15 years ago. The casino industry--the state's biggest business--is also opposed to the use of Yucca Mountain, although it has not yet put much money into the fight. "In all our conversations with members of Congress, we've argued that alternatives need to be found," said Alan Feldman, spokesman for MGM Mirage, the largest casino operator in Las Vegas. "But the problem is, the pro-nuclear industry has spent so much money on this, we couldn't dream spending that kind of money. What we might try to do now may be too little, too late." He observed, however, that any kind of catastrophe at Yucca Mountain would doom the state's economy. "Tourism in Chernobyl has been pretty bad in recent years," he said. The government has spent more than $4 billion--and by some estimates, as much as $7 billion--studying the site. Abraham recommended to Bush on Thursday that the site be approved because it is "technically suitable" and "the science behind this project is sound." The president wasted little time in throwing his support behind the recommendation, saying that nuclear energy, the second-largest source of U.S. electricity generation, "must remain a major component of our national energy policy in the years to come." But sending its waste to the outskirts of Las Vegas, said Mayor Oscar Goodman, will expose "millions of Americans in 43 states to potential nuclear holocaust." "All it takes is one terrorist with a TOW missile obtained on the black market to take out a truck carrying this deadly substance, and we get Chernobyl in our backyard," Goodman said. "This is the stuff of our worst nightmares." One of Nevada's lawsuits, filed last summer, challenges the assumptions and adequacy of radiation leakage standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency. Another lawsuit, filed in December, alleges that the Energy Department violated the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 by ignoring the requirement that a site's geology provide the primary containment of radioactivity. Both lawsuits are pending in federal appellate court in Washington. Nevada officials have tried to block Yucca Mountain on bureaucratic grounds--by denying the Energy Department water rights at the site. The department has sued, and that case is pending in a Las Vegas federal courtroom. More lawsuits are planned, including ones alleging that the federal government has violated its own procedural laws by prematurely adopting an environmental impact study of the site. "Our best efforts will be in court," Guinn said, "where we can go before a judge who will look at the facts and not whether we're a small state going against the federal government or the nuclear industry's political machine." "This is not a Republican or Democratic issue," Guinn said. "It's Nevada going against 39 states that produce this material." Gorman reported from Las Vegas, Gerstenzang from Washington. If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives [http://www.latimes.com/archives] . For information about reprinting this article, go to www.lats.com/rights [http://www.lats.com/rights/] . Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times By visiting this site, you are ***************************************************************** 59 Nevada fights nuclear dump site / State sues over Bush plan to store waste under Yucca Mountain [http://www.sfgate.com] State sues over Bush plan to store waste under Yucca Mountain [kdavidson@sfchronicle.com] Saturday, February 16, 2002 The state of Nevada vowed a bare-knuckles fight against President Bush's decision, announced yesterday, to turn a desert mountain near Las Vegas into the nation's final burial ground for thousands of tons of extremely radioactive nuclear waste. The state will continue to fight the project "every step of the way," said Bob Loux, director of the state's Nuclear Waste Project Office. "We believe we're going to win. But even if we don't, we're certainly going to bloody a few noses along the way." Within hours of the announcement, Nevada filed suit in federal court to block the Bush administration's decision. In a letter to congressional leaders, Bush said he approved the site -- long sought by the nuclear power industry as a burial ground for its waste, mainly spent fuel rods from atomic plants -- on the recommendation of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. Bush said the site is safe, based on "two decades of intense scientific scrutiny." Nonsense, replied anti-nuclear activists. They charged that the project threatens life over much of the nation, because it will involve thousands of shipments of nuclear waste from nuclear plants from coast to coast. "That waste will come here over my dead body. I will be standing in front of the gate of whatever reactor they bring it out of to stop the truck. And I will not be alone," declared Kalynda Tilges, nuclear issues coordinator at Citizen Alert in Las Vegas, which has fought the long-delayed waste site for 27 years. In a statement, Abraham said it's safer to put the nuclear materials at a single, closely monitored underground site in Nevada than to leave them at their present locations -- nuclear power plants across the country. Many of the spent fuel rods have sat for years in dry casks or in cooling ponds, awaiting a final burial site. The plants "housing these (nuclear) materials were intended to do so on a temporary basis," Abraham said. "They should be able to withstand current terrorist threats, but that may not remain the case in the future." In response, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., claimed yesterday that Bush "broke his promise" to Nevadans during the presidential campaign to base his decision on "sound science, not politics." As much as 77,000 tons of nuclear waste will be shipped to the repository, Bush said yesterday in the letter to Congress. The site is "necessary to protect public safety, health and this nation's security," Bush stated. If the site is opened, trucks will begin carrying from 3,000 to 4,000 shipments a year of radioactive waste from nuclear power plants through routes in 43 states to the proposed burial site under Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Loux said. "The shipments on railways and highways provide excellent targets for terrorists," Loux said. Also, he said, numerous communities along the spaghetti-like thicket of transport routes may suffer a decline in property values. They might also have to spend money beefing up their emergency preparedness in case of nuclear spills, he warned. The decision now goes to Congress, where a simple majority vote could decide. At the moment, Reid's political clout is strong among congressional Democrats. That's because he persuaded Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont to switch from Republican to Independent, thereby shifting the Senate's balance of power to Democrats, Loux noted. Still, Loux expects the congressional vote to "be pretty close." The state has raised millions of dollars from citizens to fight the dump site, including $50,000 from the Station Inc. casinos. E-mail Keay Davidson at [kdavidson@sfchronicle.com] . ©2002 San Francisco Chronicle   Page A - 7 ***************************************************************** 60 Gov. Guinn will veto President Bush's Yucca Mountain decision Governor Kenny Guinn FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: February 15, 2002 CONTACT: Greg Bortolin CARSON CITY: 775-684-5670 LAS VEGAS: 702-486-2500 CELL: 775-230-3302 FAX: 775-684-7198 EMAIL: Bortolin@gov.state.nv.us CARSON CITY - Gov. Kenny Guinn announced today he will exercise his Notice of Disapproval to the U.S. Congress (the Governor's Veto) upon hearing President George W. Bush's decision to recommend Yucca Mountain as a nuclear repository. "I am outraged, as are the citizens of Nevada, that this decision would go forward with so many unanswered questions," Gov. Guinn said. "As I mentioned to the President, I believe that we deserve a scientific response to the nearly 300 critical questions the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has stated must be resolved before going forward with Yucca Mountain." "As a state we are solidly united to continue our fight against Yucca Mountain becoming the nation's nuclear dump. We will exhaust every option and press our legal case to the limit. The Nevada Legislature, cities, counties and now the private sector have raised $5.4 million toward our fight." DOE has failed to prove that nuclear waste will not leak into the water table. The General Accounting Office and the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board also support this view. DOE has not completed the site characterization in compliance with the law. Nearly 300 key scientific studies in nine critical areas identified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are incomplete. Only today did DOE deliver to the Governor, the final Environmental Impact Statement. This does not comport with the intent of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act in which the Governor, prior to the recommendation, is to be provided all decision documents in order to conduct "meaningful review." "Receiving the final EIS just hours before the Presidential decision hardly provides me and the State of Nevada meaningful review," Gov. Guinn said. "Once again, this is an outrage." ### ***************************************************************** 61 Berkley Lambastes Abraham Yucca Recommendation Congresswoman Shelley Berkley - Legislation: Press Releases 2001 February 14, 2002 -- (Washington, D.C.) U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley issued the following statement in reaction to news that the Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham, had recommended Yucca Mountain to President Bush as the nation's permanent nuclear waste repository. "The recommendation by Spencer Abraham is corrupt and morally bankrupt. All the evidence has indicated that a recommendation right now is dangerously premature, and the height of irresponsibility. Spencer Abraham is a long time proponent of the dump, and he has clearly allowed his personal views and political pressures to influence his judgment. "I have sent a letter to the President, with Senator Reid, reminding President Bush that the Secretary's recommendation is only the first step, and that the final decision rests with him. "During the Presidential campaign, President Bush swore an oath to Nevadans that he would make his decision based on science and not politics. All of the evidence that has surfaced in recent weeks, and over the course of this study, has made it crystal clear that science does not support the project. Given President Bush's campaign promise to Nevadans, he has an obligation to reject the recommendation, and send the Energy Secretary back to the drawing board. It's important right now for us to remind the President that the entire State of Nevada remembers his promise, and will be watching his actions very carefully." ***************************************************************** 62 Gibbons Statement on President Bush’s Decision to Approve Site Recommendation Of Yucca Mountain FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 15, 2002 Nevadan Says “The President has been Misled” Washington, D.C.— Today, U.S. Congressman Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.) released the following statement regarding the decision of President George W. Bush to approve the Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham’s recommendation of Yucca Mountain as the nation’s high level nuclear waste repository. “Clearly, the President has been misled by the Department of Energy. The President relied upon the scientific information presented by the DOE, which for years has rushed head-long towards approving Yucca Mountain. Unfortunately, the DOE continues to ignore the serious concerns and criticisms leveled by independent scientists and experts. “I had hoped that the evidence presented to the President by me and my colleagues in the Nevada delegation would have given the President more than enough reason to deny the DOE recommendation. However, President Bush chose to rely upon the flawed science and biased opinions of the DOE instead. “The Nevada delegation will stand united and continue to fight this battle for the good of Nevada and the country. It is my hope that Congress and the rest of America will not be blinded by the DOE’s rhetoric. Certainly, Americans will have concerns regarding the dangers of shipping nuclear waste across the entire nation-- past their schools, hospitals, and homes. This fight will continue in the public arena, in the courtroom and in Congress, where Nevadans will depend upon Mr. Daschle’s assurance that in the Senate ‘the Yucca Mountain issue is dead.’” ### ***************************************************************** 63 Questions linger about safety of nuclear shipments through Missouri 02/16/02 News Tribune - 021602 state 1 1 The Jefferson City News Tribune Republican U.S. Sen. Kit Bond said Friday he has received assurances any nuclear waste that might pass through Missouri to a proposed Nevada repository would be shipped safely. ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Republican U.S. Sen. Kit Bond said Friday he has received assurances any nuclear waste that might pass through Missouri to a proposed Nevada repository would be shipped safely. But Missouri officials aren't convinced, citing a convoy that traveled across that state on Interstate 70 last year. "We point to the last shipment, where they did everything they said they wouldn't do," said Jerry Nachtigal, Gov. Bob Holden's spokesman. On Friday, President Bush signed off on Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the place where thousands of tons of the nation's nuclear waste will be stored. Nevada officials, who have argued the government can't ensure the public will be protected over the thousands of years the waste will remain dangerous, plan to file a formal objection, turning the matter over to Congress. Congress must then decide whether to side with Bush or Nevada. If the repository is built, thousands of waste shipments may cross Missouri and 42 other states over both rail and highways. To get to Nevada from sites on the East Coast, federal officials could use Interstate 70, linking St. Louis to Kansas City. "It appears they've taken extreme safeguards, as they should," Bond said of the Energy Department and the nuclear industry. While federal officials have yet to say how much of the waste could come through Missouri, Holden doubts the Energy Department has adequately planned how to safely ship the nuclear waste through the state's two largest metropolitan areas, Nachtigal said. Last year, Holden accused the Energy Department of breaking agreements on the shipment of nuclear waste through Missouri and asked Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in a letter to rethink shipping the material through the state, especially through densely populated areas. Holden said the department failed to avoid rush-hour traffic and major public events last June 28. When the convoy carrying the waste arrived at the outskirts of St. Louis about 2:30 p.m., Holden sought to delay it. The trucks were allowed to proceed shortly after 7 p.m. and made their way along I-70 across the state. In its official notice, the Energy Department wrote that the waste would go through Iowa, not Missouri. Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis has said federal officials worked with Missouri for months leading up to the shipment, went beyond the state's safety requirement. "We only seem to run into problems in Missouri," Davis said. Holden's letter said state and federal officials were supposed to designate safe stopping areas along the route. A separate letter from the Energy Department shows federal officials agreed to that idea last May, but the designation never happened. "We're just real concerned about this issue in general," said Connie Patterson, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Natural Resources. Former Gov. Mel Carnahan, Holden and others have argued it would be safer for the waste to travel away from major cities along less-traveled, less-populated routes. Nachtigal said Friday such routes might include highways through Iowa to Missouri's north, Arkansas to the south. "We fully understand that the government can ram these shipments down our throats," Nachtigal said. "But we do plan to express our continued concerns to our congressional delegation and the Energy Department." No waste is expected to be shipped to the Nevada site before at least 2010. All Contents © Copyright 2002 News Tribune Co. ***************************************************************** 64 Safety of shipping radioactive waste to Nevada debated HoustonChronicle.com Feb. 16, 2002, 7:15PM By SETH BORENSTEIN Knight Ridder Tribune WASHINGTON -- President Bush's selection Friday of Yucca Mountain, Nev., as the nation's nuclear waste-disposal site opens a new struggle over how to ship the radioactive materials across the country safely. The site in the Nevada desert, about 90 miles from Las Vegas, would store 70,000 tons of radioactive material from the nation's 103 nuclear power plants for up to 10,000 years. Currently nuclear materials are stored in 131 aboveground facilities in 39 states, and 161 million Americans live within 75 miles of these sites, according to a White House document released Friday. About 85 percent of the radioactive material is on the East Coast. Trucks and trains would travel through 45 states to haul the waste to the remote Western mountain, which Bush chose after 20 years of scientific study and political debate. Nuclear waste from commercial power reactors is growing by about 2,000 tons a year. The federal Department of Transportation is responsible for safety on the nation's highways and rail lines, which will carry the nuclear waste. But an internal report and a federal official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the agency is unprepared. According to an inspector general report in January, the transportation agency "is not fully prepared for the forecasted increase in shipments." Officials "are unsure whether the current levels of planning, inspection, training and oversight activity will be sufficient for the forecasted levels of nuclear waste," according to the report. Nevada officials, who oppose storing the waste at Yucca, are jumping on the transportation issue to enlist allies in an effort to reverse Bush's decision. The state intends to file official opposition shortly, and Congress will have 90 days to vote on whether to store the waste at Yucca. Nevada's preliminary analysis of the Department of Energy's latest environmental impact statement -- released late Thursday -- estimates that 170 million people live in counties with highways that would be used to transport the waste. The report projected more than 100,000 truckloads of waste over 38 years, up 6 percent from a 1999 estimate, said Bob Halstead, Nevada's transportation consultant. "It's a national issue, because of where the waste is stored," Halstead told Knight Ridder. "The waste (now) is stored a long ways away from Yucca Mountain. When the transportation system uses the most efficient routes, it concentrates pretty far east. It will be a daily impact on major metropolitan areas." Although the Department of Energy will not discuss specific routes and timetables, the senior federal official, who works on the issue, said Nevada's analysis is on the mark. "The president's decision threatens American lives," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Friday in a news release. "President Bush has dropped the equivalent of 100,000 dirty bombs on America." ***************************************************************** 65 Bush Endorses Nevada's Yucca as Nuclear Waste Site (web links) Full Coverage In-depth coverage about Nuclear Power and Waste [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/World/Nuclear_Power_and_Waste/] Related News Stories · Nevada Nuclear Waste Site Affirmed [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/r/fcweb/World%2FNuclear_Power_and_Waste/Related%20Ne ws%20Stories/Nevada%20Nuclear%20Waste%20Site%20Affirmed/*http://www.washingtonpo st.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19132-2002Feb15.html] - Washington Post (Feb 16, 2002) · Nuclear Dump in Nev. 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[http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/World/Nuclear_Power_and_Waste/] Magazine Articles · Designing Flowing Liquid Metal Walls to Support Fusion [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/r/fcweb/World%2FNuclear_Power_and_Waste/Magazine%20A rticles/Designing%20Flowing%20Liquid%20Metal%20Walls%20to%20Support%20Fusion/*ht tp://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/fusion020205.html] - ABCNews.com (Feb 5, 2002) · Chain Reaction [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/r/fcweb/World%2FNuclear_Power_and_Waste/Magazine%20A rticles/Chain%20Reaction/*http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,130 05,901020211-198984,00.html] - Time Magazine (Feb 4, 2002) · Post-9/11 security at nuclear power plants [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/r/fcweb/World%2FNuclear_Power_and_Waste/Magazine%20A rticles/Post-9%2F11%20security%20at%20nuclear%20power%20plants/*http://www.nrc.g ov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/tr/2002/20020117.html] - transcript of National Press Club luncheon with NRC Chairman Richard Meserve (Jan 17, 2002) More... [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/World/Nuclear_Power_and_Waste/] Audio · Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository proposal [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/r/fcweb/World%2FNuclear_Power_and_Waste/Audio/Yucca% 20Mountain%20nuclear%20waste%20repository%20proposal/*http://www.kqed.org/audioa rchive/frameset/forum/2002/01/2002-01-15a-forum.html] - KQED (Jan 15, 2002) More... [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/World/Nuclear_Power_and_Waste/] Video · Post-9/11 security at nuclear power plants [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/r/fcweb/World%2FNuclear_Power_and_Waste/Video/Post-9 %2F11%20security%20at%20nuclear%20power%20plants/*http://video.c-span.org:8080/r amgen/ldrive/ter011702_nuclear.rm] - with Richard Meserve U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman - C-SPAN (Jan 17, 2002) · Experts Gather For Nuclear Safety Conference [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/r/fcweb/World%2FNuclear_Power_and_Waste/Video/Expert s%20Gather%20For%20Nuclear%20Safety%20Conference/*http://mediaframe.yahoo.com/la unch?&p=news&l=SAM&a=0,15&provider=&bw=http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/a/g/av_ap_wl /&.test=1&f=&lid=rnv-56-s.1809108,rnv-128-s.1809108,rnv-200-s.1809108,rnv-300-s. 1809108,wmv-50-s.1809109,wmv-100-s.1809110,wmv-300-s.1809111,&t=%20-%20Experts%2 0Gather%20For%20Nuclear%20Safety%20Conference%20&dw=http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h /news//011102/163/hs44.html] - (Nov 2, 2001) · "Safety and security are being reviewed as a mater of urgency" [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/r/fcweb/World%2FNuclear_Power_and_Waste/Video/%22Saf ety%20and%20security%20are%20being%20reviewed%20as%20a%20mater%20of%20urgency%22 /*http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1630000/audio/_1631402_nuclear0630_mcgourty.ram] - BBC (Nov 1, 2001) Related Full Coverage · Depleted Uranium Controversy [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/r/fcweb/World%2FNuclear_Power_and_Waste/Related%20Fu ll%20Coverage/Depleted%20Uranium%20Controversy/*http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/Wo rld/Depleted_Uranium/] · Nuclear Weapons [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/r/fcweb/World%2FNuclear_Power_and_Waste/Related%20Fu ll%20Coverage/Nuclear%20Weapons/*http://dailynews.yahoo.com/FC/US/Nuclear_Weapon s/] · Ukraine News [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/r/fcweb/World%2FNuclear_Power_and_Waste/Related%20Fu ll%20Coverage/Ukraine%20News/*http://dailynews.yahoo.com/fc/World/Ukraine] · Cancer Research [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/r/fcweb/World%2FNuclear_Power_and_Waste/Related%20Fu ll%20Coverage/Cancer%20Research/*http://dailynews.yahoo.com/FC/Health/Cancer_Res earch/] · Yahoo! Deutschland: Neuer Castor-Transport [http://dailynews.yahoo.com/r/fcweb/World%2FNuclear_Power_and_Waste/Related%20Fu ll%20Coverage/Yahoo%21%20Deutschland%3A%20Neuer%20Castor-Transport/*http://de.fc .yahoo.com/c/castor.html] Friday February 15 6:20 PM ET By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news on Friday chose Nevada's remote Yucca Mountain as the site for a facility to store 70,000 tons of nuclear waste, prompting howls of protest and setting off a pitched battle with the state likely to end up in Congress. ``I consider the Yucca Mountain site qualified for application for a construction authorization for a repository,'' Bush told leaders of Congress in a letter informing them of his decision. ``Therefore, I now recommend the Yucca Mountain site for this purpose.'' Critics of the plan, including Nevada politicians, worry that radioactive material might seep into the ground, posing health risks for residents, and cite the risks of transporting nuclear waste over great distances. The site in the Nevada desert 90 miles from Las Vegas would store 70,000 tons of radioactive material from the nation's 103 nuclear power plants for an estimated 10,000 years. Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, said he was ''outraged ... that this decision would go forward with so many unanswered questions.'' In a statement, Guinn pledged to ``exhaust every option and press our legal case to the limit.'' Nevada has raised a warchest of $5.4 million to fight the decision. Nevada Democratic Sen. Harry Reid reacted strongly against the decision, saying Bush ``betrayed our trust'' by breaking a campaign promise not to proceed without sound scientific study. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer disputed the charge, saying Bush's decision ``is based on sound science'' and came after decades of scientific study and a determination by Energy Secretary Spence Abraham that the site can be safely used. Reid warned the plan would require the equivalent of 100,000 nuclear waste-laden trucks or 20,000 rail cars moving through 43 states from existing storage sites to Nevada. 'DIRTY BOMBS' ``President Bush has dropped the equivalent of 100,000 dirty bombs on America,'' Reid said. Abraham replied: ``The waste is already closer to the people every day of the week than it is moving past the community for five or ten minutes. It's going to be transported anyway.'' By law, Nevada's state government has the right to reject Bush's decision. The battle would then end up in Congress, where a simple majority vote would decide the case within 90 days, no filibuster allowed. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must also approve a license for the site, which would likely face legal challenges. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, approved Bush's recommendation as a better alternative than having nuclear waste ``scattered across the country in over 130 various sites.'' But his Democratic counterpart, Richard Gephardt, said the decision was driven by politics rather than sound science, and pledged to channel his party's efforts to ``overturn the administration's decision in Congress.'' A storage site has long been a political hot potato in Washington, with no state wanting the responsibility -- or burden -- of storing radioactive waste. A decision is overdue. The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act mandated that a repository be ready to receive waste in 1998. ``The president recognizes that the law now gives Nevada the opportunity to disprove the recommendation and, if they do, then the Congress will have an opportunity to act. After two decades, the time has come to resolve this issue once and for all,'' Fleischer said. GEOLOGICALLY STABLE SITE? Spent nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste and excess plutonium are now stored at over 131 sites in 39 states. Abraham, in a conference call with reporters, said radioactive waste is quickly surpassing storage capacity and makeshift storage methods will result if a single facility is not built. He pointed out an energy company has been negotiating with a Utah Indian tribe to store waste on reservation land. ``That's what's going to be the alternative if we don't move forward. It's going to go from a safe, secure intelligent national approach into a variety of makeshift approaches,'' he said. The General Accounting Office, the main investigative arm of Congress, and the Energy Department's inspector general have both voiced concerns about Yucca, but Abraham said those concerns can be allayed while the process moves forward. The Energy Department hopes to have Yucca site operational by 2010. The Energy Department contended that Yucca Mountain is a geologically stable site, positioned in a closed groundwater basin and isolated on federally controlled land. It says the repository would be housed about 1,000 feet underground, and located further from any metropolitan area than most of the less secure, temporary nuclear waste storage sites that exist today. Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 66 Vermont Yankee CEO praises Bush decision on Yucca Mountain By Associated Press, 2/15/2002 18:50 MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) Vermont Yankee's chief executive praised the approval of a permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel. ''This is a giant step forward,'' Vermont Yankee CEO Ross Barkhurst said. ''The federal government made a promise to the American people back in 1982 to create a safe, central repository for spent nuclear fuel, and President Bush is now keeping that promise.'' Bush approved Nevada's Yucca Mountain on Friday as the site for long-term disposal of thousands of tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste. In a letter to congressional leaders, Bush said a central disposal site for as much as 77,000 tons of waste that is building up at sites across the country ''is necessary to protect public safety, health and this nation's security.'' The federal government has collected more than $15 billion from U.S. ratepayers since 1982 to pay for the permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel, Barkhurst said. Those funds come from a one-tenth of a cent surcharge on each kilowatt hour of nuclear-generated electricity, he said. Vermont Yankee customers have put $173.2 million into that fund over the past 20 years, he said. The plan calls for putting the waste, mostly used reactor fuel rods from commercial power plants, into volcanic rock 950 feet below the desert surface. ''Disposing of spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, in a tunnel a thousand feet under the old Nevada nuclear weapons testing range, is much better than keeping it on the banks of the Connecticut River,'' Barkhurst said. Nevada was expected to file a protest that will leave the final decision on whether to proceed with the permanent repository up to Congress. Nevada officials have argued that the government can't ensure the public will be protected over the thousands of years the waste will remain dangerous. The site is 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, one of the fastest growing urban areas in the country. ***************************************************************** 67 IEER: President Bush Makes Historic, But Wrong, Choice on Nuclear Waste For further information contact: Arjun Makhijani [ ieer@ieer.org] : (240) 603-9846 P R E S S R E L E A S E Decision to designate Yucca Mountain as world's first nuclear waste repository will not increase security and may threaten crucial water resources Independent Scientific Institute Says Decision Based on Politics, Not Sound Science Takoma Park, Maryland., Feb. 15, 2002: U.S. President George W. Bush made an unprecedented, high-stakes decision today, designating Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the country's official repository for highly radioactive nuclear waste. Unfortunately, for a host of reasons, it is the wrong choice. "Yucca Mountain is not a suitable site for a nuclear waste repository," said Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), in Takoma Park, Maryland. "The site is crisscrossed with geologic faults; official computer models used to assess site suitability are riddled with uncertainties; and federal regulations have been changed or set aside several times to accommodate it, thus abandoning protections for drinking water. President Bush should reverse his decision." The President's decision, if it withstands congressional veto, would open the figurative floodgates for Yucca Mountain to accept a total of 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste, most of it spent fuel from nuclear power plants. The spent fuel, which will remain dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years, is now stored at dozens of power plant sites around the country, generally in huge, swimming-pool-like concrete tanks. More than 40,000 tons of it, containing hundreds of tons of plutonium, the stuff from which nuclear weapons are made, have accumulated so far. "The Bush administration's claim that Yucca Mountain will improve 'homeland security' is disingenuous and simply incorrect," Dr. Makhijani explained. "One the one hand, the Administration says it wants to advance the goal of securing spent fuel against terrorist attacks by consolidating it all at one site. On the other hand, it is encouraging the re-licensing of existing power plants far beyond their current licenses, thus ensuring that dozens of sites will continue to operate with spent fuel pools." IEER notes that the site's history carries the whiff of politics rather than sound science. "Sites in New England were abruptly removed from the selection process, mandated by the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, only a few months after they were put on the list in early 1986," Dr. Makhijani recalled. "The cut happened just a couple of weeks after concerned New England residents went to see a top aide to then-Vice President Bush, who was preparing to launch his presidential campaign. The next year Congress named Yucca Mountain as the only site to be investigated." IEER has offered up an alternative approach. "To reduce the risk of large-scale catastrophe in case of a terrorist attack," explained Dr. Makhijani, "the spent fuel should be put in on-site or close-to-site subsurface dry storage casks," like the type of structures built for the storage of the vitrified high-level wastes at the Dept. of Energy's Savannah River Site in South Carolina. "The federal government should use monies from the Nuclear Waste Fund to pay for additional on-site storage necessitated by delays in the repository program." "For the long term," Dr. Makhijani continued, "no reasonable substitute for a deep geologic repository exists. But more basic research on various geologic settings is needed before sites can be scientifically screened." "It is possible to do a far better job," explained Dr. Makhijani, "but the Energy Department seems incapable of it. For instance, it has essentially ignored an excellent 1983 study that it commissioned from the National Academy of Sciences." Dr. Makhijani concluded: "President Bush should reverse his decision and declare both Yucca Mountain and the Energy Department unsuitable for the job. He should create a blue-ribbon commission to recommend a new program to him. That approach stands a far better chance of actually restoring some confidence in public science and leading to a sound geologic repository program, which is needed for both security and environmental reasons." The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) is a nonpartisan, independent, nonprofit organization with expertise on nuclear waste issues. IEER has published studies and articles on Yucca Mountain and radioactive waste management, most of which can be found on its web site, http://www.ieer.org. -30- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Available on this site: + Department of Energy Makes the Wrong Choice by Selecting Yucca Mountain as a Suitable Nuclear Waste Repository [http://www.ieer.org/comments/waste/yuccapr.html] , IEER Press Release, January 10, 2002 + "If not Yucca Mountain, then what?" - An alternative plan for managing highly radioactive waste in the United States [http://www.ieer.org/fctsheet/yuccaalt.html] , IEER/ANA fact sheet, December 2001 + EPA's Rule on Repository for High-level Radioactive Waste Undermines Safe Drinking Water Standards [http://www.ieer.org/comments/waste/epa-prl.html] , IEER press release, June 6, 2001 + Unresolved issues regarding the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain [http://www.ieer.org/comments/waste/nwtrb.html] , letter to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, May 15, 2001 + Alternative Plan for Highly Radioactive Waste Management in the United States [http://www.ieer.org/sdafiles/vol_7/7-3/index.html] , Science for Democratic Action vol. 7 no. 3, May 1999 + Fluid Inclusion Studies at Yucca Mountain [http://www.ieer.org/reports/yucca/index.html] , December, 1998 (technical report) + More at our Guide to the Site [http://www.ieer.org/webindex.html] , look under 'Radioactive Waste' Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Comments to Outreach Coordinator: ieer@ieer.org [ieer@ieer.org] Takoma Park, Maryland, USA Posted February 15, 2002 ***************************************************************** 68 Editorial: Bush must remember China's record The Taipei Times Online: 2002-02-16 Saturday, February 16th, 2002 US President George W. Bush heads off for a week-long trip to Asia today in which he will visit Japan, South Korea and China. South Korea, of course, shares a border with one of the nations belonging to Bush's "axis of evil." Japan is the regional power -- much as this embarrasses the Japanese and irks the Chinese. China has become hugely self-confidant as a result of being able to portray itself as an ally in the "war on terrorism." It has used the "anti-terrorist" label to justify stepping up repression in Xinjiang. And it has used the simple fact of US attention being diverted elsewhere to put into action policies that would, under other circumstances, have provoked an outcry; for example, the vicious crackdown and repression of Christians belonging to non-state-sanctioned churches which human rights groups in the US estimate to have resulted in over 20,000 people being trucked off to China's gulags in the last few months. Here in Taiwan at least it is no secret that China sees the US preoccupation with the "war on terrorism" as a fine opportunity to curry favor with Washington while pursuing its own hegemonic aims with renewed vigor. Some in Washington are aware of this. Some 10 days ago CIA Director George Tenet told Congress much the same thing. He pointed out that China's ambitions were in no way undiminished in the post-Sept. 11 era and that while the attacks had "changed the context" of the Chinese approach to the US, they had in no way changed Beijing's aims. The fact is that, just because Osama bin Laden is now international public enemy No. 1, the Chinese regime is no less ambitious or determined to establish regional hegemony. It is possible that Bush might go to China looking for a stronger ally in his "war on terror." If so, then he is deeply mistaken either about China or about what the aim of the "war on terror" should be. Because if that fight is perceived as the US hunting down small radical groups that annoy it, clearly there's not much to inspire global support there. On the other hand, if it is a genuine long-term commitment to making the world a safer place, such an aim is worthy of everyone's fullest support. But if making the world a safer place is the aim, then we need to have a clear grasp of who is making it an unsafe place. Look no further than across the Taiwan Strait. Bush should go to China with a strong message that his so-called "axis of evil" was not exhaustive and if China does not want to find itself on that axis it had better clean up its act. No country has done more to harm to that aim than China. In the last 10 years China has provided missile technology to Syria and Pakistan, and has supplied nuclear technology and equipment to Pakistan and, believe it or not, India, as well as being the key supplier of nuclear know-how and equipment to a country firmly in Bush's sights, Iran. Oh, and it has sold missile fuel to Iraq. And anyone who thinks China's involvement in North Korea's nuclear program is totally benign is obviously not paying attention to its track record. If Bush is interested in making the world a safer place then, frankly, there are worse threats than al-Qaeda. There is, for example, the key supplier of the technology to build and deliver weapons of mass destruction, known to be in bed with some of the world's most dangerous regimes, the capital of which he will visit next Thursday. We hope he remembers this when he arrives. This story has been viewed 339 times. URL=[http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2002/02/16/story/0000124179] Copyright © 1999-2002 The Taipei Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 69 Russians deny claims of missile information leaks Journalstar.com: Nation/World BY VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV The Associated Press MOSCOW -- Russia has found no evidence that Russian companies and research centers leaked ballistic missile technology to Iran, as the United States has claimed, officials said Friday. The Russians examined 13 cases of alleged proliferation raised by the Americans, and concluded that "none of them represented a violation," Alexei Krasnov, a deputy chief of the Russian Aerospace Agency's international department, said at a conference. CIA Director George Tenet told Congress this month that Russia is one of the leading suppliers of nuclear technology and missiles to countries hostile to the United States. The CIA report to Congress said the Russian government's commitment and ability to stop such transfers "remain uncertain." The Russian Foreign Ministry angrily dismissed the allegations, and the head of its nonproliferation section Valery Fomin reasserted Friday that Russia's export control system has prevented any leaks. The long-simmering controversy over the alleged transfer of sensitive technologies has acquired a new dimension since President Bush's denunciation of Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an "axis of evil" -- an embarrassment for Russia, which has friendly ties with all three. Several years ago, the United States imposed sanctions against 10 Russian companies and research centers accused of funneling missile technology to Iran. All but two remain under sanctions, Krasnov said at Friday's conference, which was held by the PIR-Center, an independent think tank specializing in security issues. Krasnov acknowledged, without elaborating, that some were front companies set up with the apparent goal of smuggling sensitive technology out of Russia. But he insisted that none had succeeded in leaking any sensitive know-how to Iran. He pointed to a 1999 law that has strengthened barriers against illegal weapons exports as a proof of Russia's commitment to nonproliferation. Krasnov urged the West to expand cooperation with Russian rocket manufacturers to lure their workers away from suspicious customers. "If our space industries don't have access to legitimate international cooperation, one could expect illegal contacts that would be hard to monitor and stop," he said. Along with concerns about missile know-how, Washington has urged Russia to abandon an $800 million deal to build a nuclear reactor in Iran, saying it could help Tehran build nuclear weapons. Moscow says the reactor can only be used for civilian purposes and will remain under close international monitoring. Iran's missile program came to spotlight in 1998, when it launched a Shihab-3 ballistic missile with a range of 800 miles, believed to be based on technology from North Korea. Copyright © 2002, Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved. 926 P Street Lincoln NE 68508 402 475-4200 feedback@journalstar.com ***************************************************************** 70 US, Pak to resume N-dialogue DECCAN HERALD Saturday, February 16, 2002 From L K Sharma DH News Service WASHINGTON, Feb 15 The US is resuming with Pakistan its “dialogue on the nuclear security issues” and it may seek to resume a similar dialogue with New Delhi. The Clinton administration, which was more concerned about nuclear non-proliferation, had engaged India and Pakistan in long-running talks on this subject. Both India and Pakistan being nuclear weapon states, the genie cannot be put back into the bottle. The attempt of the nuclear haves will be to see that their nuclear programmes remain under check. Noticing the fog of words generated by President Pervez Musharraf here, the Bush administration decided to clarify what exactly it had promised to the Pakistani leader and what it has not. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said that any mediation or facilitation was not going to be helpful in the context of relations between India and Pakistan. Earlier, while rejecting New Delhi’s insistence on bilateralism, Gen Musharraf urged the US to play the role of a mediator. Ms Rice said: "The US is always prepared to help in any way but we don't believe this is something that mediation or facilitation is going to help. What will help is to have the two parties (India and Pakistan) decide it is time for dialogue, and we are encouraging that." Ms Rice as well as a spokesman of the State Department rejected Gen Musharraf’s remarks at the National Press Club that there was no evidence that the attack on the Indian Parliament was carried out by terrorists. Ms Rice said "the problem we encountered with the (attack on) the Indian Parliament was that a democracy, a similar democracy, was attacked in India (and it) showed to everybody that terrorism was a threat in this case not just to India but it was also a threat to a stable and secular Pakistan." In reply to another question, she said that while the US has made no decision as of today in terms of lifting the missile-related sanctions on Pakistan, "we are looking at it very carefully." She said there were strong tensions on the Indo-Pak border but some progress had been made, largely as a factor of what President Musharraf has been doing since his speech and “we have encouraged him to continue to make progress." PROMISES: Meanwhile, the White House said it would work with Congress to secure increased assistance for Pakistan, particularly in areas related to debt relief, increased trade, education reform and defence and security cooperation. It released the details of the promises made to Pakistan during Gen Musharraf’s official visit here. (The following are some of them.) — Debt Relief: The President will work with Congress to provide Pakistan with roughly $1 billion in debt relief in 2003. — Democracy Assistance: Support for the October 2002 legislative elections in Pakistan. About $2 million for technical support, including the training of election commissioners, domestic observers and political party monitors, and the provision of election commodities. — Strengthening Education: $34 million educational support program this year, the beginning of a multi-year $100 million program working with Pakistan to assist in education strengthening and reform. This initiative is supported by multiple United States government agencies, including USAID and the Departments of State, Labour and Education. First year of the $28 million core program focuses on curriculum development, teacher training and information technology diffusion in Balochistan and Sindh provinces. — The Department of Labour will provide an additional $5 million in grants this year to combat child labour and provide vocational training for youth in Punjab province. President Bush and President Musharraf also discussed the situation in South Asia and called for de-escalation of tension and a resumption of the Pakistan-India dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues, including Kashmir. © Copyright, 1999 The Printers (Mysore)Ltd. ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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