Bush Signs Bill Designating Nevada Site as Nuclear Waste Dump

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, July 24, 2002

Bush Signs Bill Designating Nevada Site as Nuclear Waste Dump

United States President George W.Bush signed a bill on Tuesday to designate Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert as the country's first permanent nuclear waste repository.

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United States President George W.Bush signed a bill on Tuesday to designate Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert as the country's first permanent nuclear waste repository.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the move, after 20 years of scientific study, was "an important step forward" on the way to a comprehensive policy for dealing with the country's nuclear waste.

At a private ceremony, Bush signed the bill to designate Yucca Mountain, about 150 kilometers northwest of Las Vegas, as the central nuclear dump. The resolution won final congressional approval earlier this month.

The Yucca Mountain project, scheduled to open in 2010, would hold 77,000 tons of radioactive material that the Environmental Protection Agency says must be isolated for 10,000 years.

"The successful completion of the Yucca Mountain project will ensure our nation has a safe and secure underground facility that will store nuclear waste in a manner that protects our environmentand our citizens," Fleischer said.

The Bush administration and other proponents of the project have said that leaving spent fuel from nuclear plants, which is highly radioactive, scattered at 131 sites in 39 states would posea serious threat to the public.

But critics, including Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a Democrat from South Dakota, raised questions about environmental protection and transportation safety issues.

Nevada filed several lawsuits to try to stop the project beforeand after Bush accepted a recommendation by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in February to build the facility in the state.

Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn, a Republican, pledged on Tuesday to keep fighting the 58-billion-dollar project for the sake of theregion's 1.4 million people.

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