Nevada Governor Sues To Block DOE's Yucca Mountain Proposal
Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn (R) filed a lawsuit against President Bush after he endorsed a site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas as the final resting-place for thousands of tons of radioactive material from nuclear powerplants.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court on Feb. 15, the day the President accepted the Dept. of Energy's recommendation to built a nuclear waste storage vault at Yucca Mountain. It would be used to store more than 70,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and excess plutonium now stored at 131 sites in 39 states. Some $8 billion has already been spent at the site. Construction costs could reach $80 billion. Federal officials have set the opening for 2010.