Re: THE Nuclear Waste Thread (merged)
Posted: Mon 04 Mar 2019, 16:38:51
This video is full of "republicans good, democrats bad" without acknowledging that The Yucca Mountain Repository is opposed for far simpler reasons: NIMBY. Nevada Democrats and Republicans seem to have united on this issue to do everything they can to block the Yucca Mountain Repository. Even if the country as a whole would benefit from a centralized nuclear storage facility, it is not something that locals are going to be happy about having in their back yard.
Yucca Mountain Halted Again as GOP Aims to Retain SenateSupporters of the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada face a familiar fate despite bipartisan momentum to restart progress on the site: Once again, their hopes appear dashed by a Silver State senator. For years the Senate spoiler was the chamber’s top Democrat, Harry Reid, who departed in 2017. This year Republican Dean Heller played the role, a vocal opponent of the project who faces an uphill re-election bid in a state that went for Hillary Clinton and Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in 2016. The outcome: Funding backed by the House to restart the Yucca process was dropped in the conference agreement on the three-bill spending package that includes the fiscal 2019 Energy-Water title, unveiled Monday. It also means bipartisan House legislation to restart the project will likely linger untouched by the Senate this Congress.
Nevada says ‘no’
Nevada has long opposed hosting the nation’s nuclear waste, especially since it does not have nuclear power plants within its borders. Opponents say the site and the movement of waste there represent significant public health and safety risks that could expose Nevadans and others to deadly radioactivity in the event of accidents or groundwater leakage. Heller wasn’t the only Nevada lawmaker to oppose restarting the Yucca project. His challenger, Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen, was equally eager to show Nevada voters she had what it takes to stop the project. Cortez Masto also mounted opposition on the Hill. “Once again, the U.S. House of Representatives has failed in its relentless pursuit to turn Nevada into our nation’s nuclear waste dump,” Heller said in a statement Monday. “As long as I’m in the U.S. Senate, you can count on me to never let up on my fight to keep nuclear waste out of the state of Nevada.”
Decades-old war over Yucca Mountain nuclear dump resumes under Trump budget planNevada officials have put every ounce of their political muscle into stopping the dump, worried that a radioactive spill or even the possibility of one could destroy their tourist economy. There are also fears that, in the distant future, the dump might leak radioactivity into groundwater supplies — that has happened at several Energy Department plants. The state is quickly gearing up for a new fight, readying new legal strategies and pushing a resolution through the state Legislature. Cortez Masto said the state is united against the dump across party lines, including Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, another former attorney general. "Yucca Mountain is just a hole in the ground," she said in an interview. "It is time for members of Congress to recognize that Yucca Mountain won't work." Sandoval said he had "reaffirmed my unwavering opposition to any potential progress toward developing the site as a potential destination for high-level nuclear waste."
In 1987 Congress directed the Energy Department to put a single dump in Nevada, ending what was supposed to be a process of scientific evaluation. The state quickly branded the legislation "The Screw Nevada Act." The state shocked the Energy Department with its political and legal tenacity. It successfully fought the federal standard that said the site must be capable of keeping any waste isolated for 10,000 years. A federal court ruled the waste had to be kept safe for many hundreds of thousands of years — as long or longer than humans have roamed the Earth. The state engineer shut off water to the site. Las Vegas officials threatened to arrest anybody who tried to transport waste through the city. Nevada has filed some 300 legal "contentions" against the Energy Department's license, each of which must be examined by a special board. The state is swinging into action to file even more contentions if the license action is resumed, said Robert Halstead, chief of the state's nuclear office.
The Independent Poll: Yucca, stadium taxes unpopular with votersNevada voters oppose renewed efforts to reopen the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage site and don’t favor the recently approved hikes in hotel room taxes to help finance a possible NFL stadium in Las Vegas. Both policies are opposed by large majorities of Nevada voters. Nevada political leaders largely oppose efforts to revisit Yucca — Republican Sen. Dean Heller and Democratic Rep. Dina Titus have introduced identical legislation designed to make it more difficult for the site to open without explicit approval from the state.