Over 5000 Write to Obama in Support of Intent to Cancel the Dump
Licensing Board Admits 299 Contentions for Hearing on Proposed Yucca Mountain Radioactive Waste Dump;
May 11, 2009 - Today the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that eight parties, including the States of Nevada and California and a number of impacted Counties in both states, have been admitted to a hearing process that will consider 299 contested issues in the licensing of the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada, radioactive waste dump. Other parties that also filed contentions that may still be admitted include the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe.
Last week, President Obama submitted his FY 2010 budget, which explicitly calls for an end to the Yucca Mountain project and includes only enough funding for the Department of Energy to participate in the licensing process. On May 4th, President Obama received a letter of support from hundreds of organizations and more than 5,000 individuals, for that stand, and for his determination that the Department of Energy conduct a review of federal policy on radioactive waste, specifically irradiated fuel and high-level radioactive waste slated for the Yucca Mountain site. The letter, posted at: http://www.nirs.org/radwaste/hlw/obamaltrsigners.pdf enumerates the reasons that people in communities impacted by radioactive waste today-including reactor communities where the waste is generated and currently stored on site, communities targeted for so-called "temporary" waste storage sites and for potential reprocessing sites--all support the cancellation of Yucca. In addition, this community offered the President further views, including why reprocessing is neither appropriate waste management, nor a waste "solution."
"The decision by the Atomic Safety Licensing Board is a historic moment in the Atomic Age: the disposal of the unavoidable byproduct of the construction of nuclear weapons and the generation of electric power using fission in a site selected by politics rather than science will not stand unexamined," said Mary Olson, of the NIRS Radioactive Waste Project. "We congratulate the people of Nevada and the Shoshone Nation in their persistent pursuit of sound science, good policy and the protection of this and future generations from a monstrous atomic blunder."
The NRC's press release announcing the hearing is available at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2009/09-083.html
May 11, 2009 - Today the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that eight parties, including the States of Nevada and California and a number of impacted Counties in both states, have been admitted to a hearing process that will consider 299 contested issues in the licensing of the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada, radioactive waste dump. Other parties that also filed contentions that may still be admitted include the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe.
Last week, President Obama submitted his FY 2010 budget, which explicitly calls for an end to the Yucca Mountain project and includes only enough funding for the Department of Energy to participate in the licensing process. On May 4th, President Obama received a letter of support from hundreds of organizations and more than 5,000 individuals, for that stand, and for his determination that the Department of Energy conduct a review of federal policy on radioactive waste, specifically irradiated fuel and high-level radioactive waste slated for the Yucca Mountain site. The letter, posted at: http://www.nirs.org/radwaste/hlw/obamaltrsigners.pdf enumerates the reasons that people in communities impacted by radioactive waste today-including reactor communities where the waste is generated and currently stored on site, communities targeted for so-called "temporary" waste storage sites and for potential reprocessing sites--all support the cancellation of Yucca. In addition, this community offered the President further views, including why reprocessing is neither appropriate waste management, nor a waste "solution."
"The decision by the Atomic Safety Licensing Board is a historic moment in the Atomic Age: the disposal of the unavoidable byproduct of the construction of nuclear weapons and the generation of electric power using fission in a site selected by politics rather than science will not stand unexamined," said Mary Olson, of the NIRS Radioactive Waste Project. "We congratulate the people of Nevada and the Shoshone Nation in their persistent pursuit of sound science, good policy and the protection of this and future generations from a monstrous atomic blunder."
The NRC's press release announcing the hearing is available at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2009/09-083.html