US won't delay Nevada waste site guidelines
Date: 18-Dec-01
Country: USA
Yucca Mountain - located in the Nevada desert - is being investigated by the U.S government as a possible dumping ground for tons or radioactive waste.
The revised guidelines took effect last week. Governor Kenny Guinn and state Attorney General Sue Del Papa asked for a stay pending the outcome of a lawsuit the state intended to file. Nevada says the guidelines were changed improperly.
In a letter to Guinn and Del Papa, the Energy Department said it had dealt with Nevada's concerns earlier.
It said the guidelines were revised "because both the science and the law relevant to the project have developed significantly" since the guidelines were first proposed in 1984.
Under the revised guidelines, the Energy Department said it would evaluate the performance of all aspects of the repository, both engineered and natural, an approach it said was suggested by a National Academy of Sciences study.