Nevada May Sue to Halt Nuclear Dump

Nevada threatened Monday to go to court to stop the federal Energy Department from burying the nation’s nuclear waste 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Gov. Kenny Guinn and state Atty. Gen. Frankie Sue Del Papa sent a letter demanding that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham postpone what they called an “apparently imminent” recommendation to President Bush on the Yucca Mountain proposal.

“This is basically the initiation of a lawsuit,” said Bob Loux, director of the Nevada state Nuclear Projects Office and Guinn’s top administrator working to stop the Yucca Mountain project.

An Energy Department spokesman denied Abraham has made a decision on whether to entomb the nation’s most radioactive waste beneath the volcanic ridge at the western edge of the Nevada Test Site.

“We’ve always said we’re proceeding according to the law and will make a decision based on science,” Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis said Monday in Washington. He said a recommendation is due this winter.

Nevada is asking Abraham to postpone implementation of site suitability guidelines that are scheduled to take effect Friday.

Loux said Nevada officials don’t believe Abraham will pull the plug on the project after 20 years and some $7 billion worth of study.

Bush administration officials have made disposal of spent nuclear fuel a key component of the nation’s energy plan. Yucca Mountain is the only place in the nation under study.

Nevada contends that site selection, along with Department of Energy steps toward obtaining a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license for the dump, have been tainted by conflicts of interest on the part of a law firm that quit working for the Energy Department last week.