Future Senate Majority Leader Reid is a Foe of Yucca Mountain

Date: November 25, 2006

Source: News Room

Nevada Democratic Senator Harry Reid, a foe of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, is about to become Senate majority leader. This gives him control over which legislation reaches the Senate floor and he could effectively cripple the project. Controversies and lawsuits have pushed the opening date from 1998 to 2017. The project has already cost $6.5 billion, and costs are now projected to exceed $70 billion to construct and operate the dump for the first 100 years. Supporters predict that the project will continue, albeit in a more circumspect manner. Reid says putting the highly radioactive wastes in dry storage casks at power plants will keep it safe for 100 years or more. Officials at the Energy Department claim that this will only delay the problem for future generations to solve.

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