Nuclear Waste Hearings Planned
Public hearings on the Department of Energy’s plans to bury nuclear waste deep inside Yucca Mountain will be held in Amargosa Valley and Pahrump next month.
The hearings initially were set for Sept. 12 in Amargosa Valley and Sept. 13 in Pahrump, but the Department of Energy postponed them until Monday because of last week’s terrorist attacks on the East Coast.
Nevada’s congressional delegation then complained that the hearings would be held at the same time on the same day, meaning some citizens would not be able to speak at both hearings.
On Thursday, the DOE again rescheduled the hearings for Oct. 10 in Amargosa Valley and Oct. 12 in Pahrump.
The DOE earlier this month gathered public comment in Las Vegas on a scientific report that identified no major obstacles to making Yucca Mountain the national repository for 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected to recommend to President Bush by the end of the year whether the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is suitable to begin accepting nuclear waste in 2010.
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