Yucca Mountain News Clips - Thursday, December 30, 2004

Yucca Mountain News Clips
Thursday, December 30, 2004
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
December 30, 2004

Coalition sets sights on Yucca benefits

By Steve Tetreault
Stephens Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- A newly formed business and rural government coalition plans to lobby Nevada lawmakers and the state's congressional delegation to seek benefits for serving as host of the Yucca Mountain repository, its leaders said Wednesday.

Organizers say they see the burial of nuclear waste in Nevada as "highly inevitable," adding that state leaders should do all they can to maximize jobs, help local firms win contracts and obtain grants for science research, schools and highway improvements.

"This is a good-faith effort to get the dialogue going and to bring some advantages to Nevada," said Monte Miller, chief executive of KeyState Corporate Management, of Las Vegas.

Miller was among 19 founding members of the group, which calls itself For a Better Nevada. The group includes business executives from Las Vegas, Reno and Elko, elected officials from Lincoln, Nye and Esmeralda counties, and Ed Burke, secretary-treasurer of Las Vegas Teamsters Local 631.

Other valley residents associated with the group include Terry Graves, president of the Henderson Development Association; home builder Jack Libby; auto dealer Jim Marsh; John Gibson, chief executive of American Pacific Corp.; and Troy Wade, chairman of the Nevada Alliance for Defense.

Yucca proponents and opponents have tried to gauge Nevadans' sentiment about the Department of Energy project since the state helped re-elect President Bush, a supporter of the repository.

Coalition spokesman Chris Barrett, a Reno lobbyist, said the group grew out of frustration with the tax increases promoted by Gov. Kenny Guinn and passed by the Legislature in 2003. During the session, a group of business leaders wondered whether the state was exploring fully the economic potential of Yucca Mountain.

Barrett declined to identify the leaders but said they took their concern to Ed Allison, a Nevada consultant for the Nuclear Energy Institute. Allison suggested the business leaders organize themselves to amplify their message.

Miller said plans for the coalition solidified after members toured Yucca Mountain in November, accompanied by Allison and former Nevada Gov. Bob List, a consultant for the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Barrett said the group has an "arms-length" relationship with the nuclear industry and plans to accept no money or support from the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Barrett, who said he is volunteering his services to the group, said the organization will encourage state lawmakers to explore negotiating for benefits. They also might seek meetings with Nevada's members of Congress, who have adamantly opposed such talks.

Coalition members are neither for nor against the repository but want to ensure Nevada gets "any and all economic opportunities and benefits possible," the group said in a prepared statement. "The group believes the paramount consideration in the planning, construction and operation of Yucca Mountain should be to guarantee the public health and safety of the residents of Nevada."

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., is concerned the business group might send a signal that Nevadans are softening toward the repository, but he does not plan to discourage it from acting, Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., believes the coalition is misreading sentiment among Nevadans, spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said. A poll that Reid and Ensign commissioned earlier this month "shows Nevadans still want to fight the project," Hafen said.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said he will continue to oppose the repository as "an unsafe and unsound idea."

"As Nevada's economy continues to grow and diversify, many better job and economic opportunities will exist for our residents than working at a deadly nuclear waste dump," Gibbons said.

Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, said the lobbying effort comes as the project falls further behind schedule and its managers struggle with adverse court and administrative rulings.

"This is a last-ditch effort by the nuclear industry to somehow salvage this project by getting Nevada leaders to the negotiating table," Loux said.

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Las Vegas SUN
December 29, 2004

Where I Stand -- Marisol Montoya: Spirit of debate lives

Editor's note: More than 1,000 students from high schools throughout Southern Nevada participated in the 49th annual Sun Youth Forum on Nov. 23. The students were divided into groups to discuss a variety of topics. A spokesperson was chosen from each group to write a column about the students' findings. Today's columnist is Cimarron-Memorial High School student Marisol Montoya, who writes about the discussion in her group, "Home in Nevada."

By Marisol Montoya

In recent years America has experienced a decline in bipartisanship and cooperation in politics. This was highlighted in this election and has been seen in the bitter divides over social issues and legislation.

With the Sun Youth Forum occurring as the election wounds were still open, one might assume that these divides would be more prevalent than usual. As expected, there were divisions and they were deeply drawn by personal beliefs.

However, what I experienced at the Youth Forum was a stark difference to the lack of political cooperation shown in recent months. My peers listened to each other and were respectful of each other. A strong example of this was demonstrated when the issue of the death penalty was discussed.

The room was deeply divided -- 17 supported the death penalty while 15 were opposed to it. Specifically, on the issue of the death penalty for minors, those in favor believed that if you kill someone you should pay the price with your own life. It was also stated that the funding to keep someone in jail for life was too much of a financial burden on taxpayers.

But that argument was countered with a strong rebuttal, that the price of executing someone is actually more expensive than keeping someone in jail for life. Many people, including myself, also had a problem with the fact that America is the only western democracy that uses the death penalty. For opponents of the death penalty, the risk of executing an innocent person was also far too great to sway anyone's opinion to the other side.

The divide in our room over the death penalty was very similar to the one in the political arena, but when it came to an even more divisive issue, such as gay marriage, there was much agreement.

Only six people in the 30-plus group opposed gay marriage. Everyone in our room came to the agreement, however, that as much as marriage may be about love, this particular issue is about the rights that come with marriage or a civil union, such as the rights of inheritance, taxes, real estate, hospital visitation, medical and legal decisions.

While some students were uncomfortable with the word marriage, all seemed uncomfortable at denying rights based on sexuality. Almost all believed that someone's religious beliefs should not determine human rights. Some even felt that the government should not be involved in marriage, period, and that the government should just honor civil unions for all and that a church or religious sect could choose to recognize it as a marriage.

All I wanted from the discussion was an answer to my question: If homosexuals can fight and die for our country, why can't they have the same rights all others are entitled to? However, the best response I received was that the military has a "Don't ask, don't tell" policy, which I already knew.

While we were still contemplating the rights for homosexuals via marriage, another debatable right was addressed. Should you have the right to use marijuana? Contrary to popular belief, an overwhelming majority of the students did not support legalization.

Seventeen supported legalization while 14 opposed -- a difference of only three people. (One student had no opinion on the issue.) To me, it seems ridiculous for someone to possibly lose their right to vote if they're convicted of using a non-addictive drug.

Common ground was reached, though, on a medicinal purpose for marijuana. This is because marijuana, for many patients, is the only drug that can effectively cut the nauseating edge of chemotherapy. It also gives you an appetite.

Not even THC pills give the same effect as smoked marijuana. Ultimately, we agreed that if marijuana was ever to be legalized in any form, regulations and taxes would have to be imposed. An issue also tied with regulations and money, because taxes ultimately mean money, was Yucca Mountain. While an overwhelming majority were opposed to Yucca Mountain, nearly everyone felt it was inevitable. Most of the group said they would support it as long as the security and storage were strictly regulated.

However, the sarcasm in accepting it was shown when everyone said they would gladly take the waste dump if Nevada's schools were given as much money to spend per pupil as is spent on education by those states ranking in the top five in the country. While the looming threat of nuclear waste shadowed many students' perceptions, including my own, some believed that there was hope in stalling the waste dump from being used anytime soon. So strong was this belief that some students came together to help form Youth Against Yucca Mountain.

The Sun Youth Forum gave more hope for the re-emergence of bipartisanship that seems to have been lost in recent years. These youths, representing the future of our country, were working and listening. It wasn't a shouting match of "my ideas are better and are not to be compromised." I was proud to see that cooperation in politics is not an extinct concept. Perhaps more of this will take place in politics in the near future.

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Nevada Appeal
December 30, 2004

Group plans to seek benefits for hosting Yucca dump

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS - A group of Nevada business, union and local officials plans to push the state to get economic benefits from the federal plan to store the nation's most radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain.

The 16-member group wants the state to negotiate for tax benefits, research grants, highway funding, educational opportunities or other federal benefits if the Energy Department stores 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"I think there was a definite time period when we shouldn't have been in those negotiations, but I think that time has passed," said Monte Miller, chief executive of KeyState Corporate Management in Las Vegas and a founder of the group calling itself "For A Better Nevada."

Gov. Kenny Guinn, state Attorney General Brian Sandoval and Nevada's congressional delegation are united against the planned repository. They say negotiating for benefits is not an option.

"I continue to believe that we need to prevent Yucca Mountain and I do not agree with attempts to negotiate with the federal government because there are no benefits the state could possibly reap from the site," said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.

The state won one of several legal challenges against the Energy Department earlier this year, and plans to raise more objections when the department seeks a repository operating license application from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The group issued a news release Tuesday saying it is neither for nor against the Yucca repository, but will focus on "capturing any and all economic opportunities and benefits possible for Nevada."

Chris Barrett, a Reno advertising consultant coordinating the group, told the Las Vegas Sun the group formed following debate in the 2003 Legislature about raising taxes. He said members decided waste storage in Nevada is inevitable and the state should organize to get benefits.

The announcement lists Nye, Lincoln and Esmeralda county and Caliente and Pahrump elected officials, a prominent Clark County auto dealer and casino owner, a Teamsters union executive, a southern Nevada real estate developer and an Elko businessman and several Northern Nevada and Reno residents and business owners.

Barrett told the Sun the group has no budget and is not affiliated with or funded by the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington-based industry advocacy group.

Former Nevada Gov. Bob List, an Nuclear Energy Institute consultant, has been the highest-profile public official in the state to publicly favor the Yucca Mountain project.

"I certainly think it will be a little less lonely out there," List said of the new group. "I think it's a big step. We'd be foolish to let the opportunity pass us up."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., released results of a poll this month that they said showed 70 percent of state residents oppose the Yucca repository and 57 percent said the state should continue fighting it.

The poll also found 38 percent said Yucca "is inevitable and nothing can be done about it," down 5 percentage points from a similar poll in January 2002.

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Las Vegas Mercury
December 30, 2004

Knappster: Mercury predictions for '04 featured big hits, big misses

By George Knapp

We can't say for sure exactly when it became customary for journalists to offer end-of-the-year predictions. I have a vague childhood memory of Barney Rubble wearing a fedora with a "Press" sticker in his hatband, so perhaps it was during his award-winning tenure as a muckraker for the Bedrock Gazette that this wacky and whimsical trend began. (I only wish Mr. Rubble would have cast his keen investigative gaze on the age-old but unresolved "Wilma or Betty" question.)

Regardless of its origin, the year-end prognostication feature is now a staple of fine newspapers everywhere, including this one. Frankly, reporters stink at this. But so do psychics, palm readers, crystal ball gazers, head-bump interpreters and bone-tossers. Remote viewers are another matter, but their predictions are mostly classified.

There are a few subtle techniques that have proved useful in boosting one's batting average. The most basic is that the pundit or prognosticator should liberally sprinkle his or her list of predictions with items that can't miss as a way to boost his batting average. The Mercury's 2003 predictions (zoning changes will outrage some residents, Oscar Goodman will campaign for downtown redevelopment while swilling gin, Celine Dion will inexplicably draw packed audiences) are fine examples of this system. Three-and-0, just like that.

But when it gets down to stories or developments that are more fluid and unpredictable, the canny pundit should consider a more refined approach. Pick an obscure factoid that has not yet been made public and then take it to the mattresses. Do not discourage comparisons to Nostradamus or Edgar Cayce. My pal Jon Ralston is a master of this technique.

At the risk of alienating all of my Mercury colleagues, and of seeing my humble column relegated to the want-ad pages of the prestigious Senior Citizen RV Park Times-Tribune, it falls to me to evaluate the accuracy of last year's collective offerings. Surprisingly, the Mercury folks did pretty well, although when we missed, we missed by a mile.

My esteemed editor Geoff Schumacher, ostensibly a hard-bitten newsman, revealed with his predictions that he is a hopeless optimist. He began with a prediction that 2004 would be another year of rapid growth. (Score!) He tempered this with a sobering assessment that more growth would mean an influx of more low-earning newcomers, more traffic congestion, more school crowding, more sprawl and a need for bare-minimum tax revenues to pay for it all. Bingo. For the 18th year in a row, Nevada was the fastest-growing state in the nation, our quality of life descended further into the septic tank and no one seems willing to dip into their own pockets to pay for the services and infrastructure we desperately need.

But when Geoff turned his intense focus on two other stories, the results were less definitive. He predicted good things for the Las Vegas Monorail, writing that the opening of the monorail would generate national and local media attention, would be "a hoot and a help to millions of tourists" and "thousands of resort workers," and that it would "put a dent in traffic congestion and reduce air pollution." He also expected the monorail to blossom in future years when it is expanded.

The monorail certainly did generate a lot of media attention, but not the kind that anyone could have expected. The train's pesky tendency to rain metallic parts and 60-pound tires on streets and sidewalks threw a wet blanket on all predictions about its potential. I won't even get into the foul stench generated by the sheer sneakiness of the project's proponents, nor will I gloat about Geoff's prediction being off the mark. We should all hope that the the pathetically planned project eventually lives up to its potential.

Geoff also predicted big things from a revamping of the Fremont Street Experience. True enough, the $16 million facelift was a serious improvement when it was unveiled in the spring. Was it needed? Yes. Is it better? Absolutely. Is it a saving grace? Doubtful, but it might have helped to stem the tide. Geoff's hopeful suggestion that a better F.S. Experience might lead to a reinvigorated Neonopolis was inspirational, but unrealized. Let's put it in the file for '06 or '07.

The formidable Heidi Walters correctly predicted that the drought would continue, that dire projections about our water supply would be issued, that residents would complain bitterly, but that the BLM would continue to offer huge parcels of raw land to developers while the local PR machine would continue to tout Southern Nevada as a place of cheap land and cheap houses in hopes of capturing an even larger share of that much-coveted demographic of unskilled, undocumented workers with really big families, while at the same time reaching out to an army of anti-tax, fixed-income retirees who think public expenditures on schools, parks and libraries should be illegal, especially if they interfere with their penny-slot jones. Okay, Heidi didn't exactly put it that way, but I think that's what she meant, and she was right.

However, she also predicted that local water bosses would impose onerous restrictions on our consumption patterns during 2004, perhaps hoping we would all take shorter showers, stop using garden hoses to spruce up our dusty Hummers, drink less Lake Mead swill and put more pressure on those ungrateful, water-hogging hicks in rural counties who don't have the common sense to send their streams and aquifers down here so we can fill a few more man-made lakes and decorative fountains. Water officials did NOT impose tough restrictions on us. They offered to buy our turf and they gave us a watering schedule for our lawns, but other than that it was if the drought never happened. Still, a lot of water was saved, which means developers will be able to build more houses and more people can move here, which in turn will mean we need more water. Brilliant.

Heidi also predicted 2004 would see the death of the Yucca Mountain project. Anti-nuke official Bob Loux told her the state would win at least three out of four court battles and then Yucca would be toast. The state lost three of the four, and then Nevadans helped to re-elect George Bush, which virtually guarantees the Yucca project will move forward.

On the political front, Andrew Kiraly and Michael Green scored some solid hits and wide misses. Bush did carry Nevada, Bob Beers did beat Ray Rawson, all four of our congressional reps were re-elected, an ethics scandal did hit City Hall and was shaken off by Teflon Oscar, and Democrats gained ground in the state Senate. However, contrary to their predictions, Chip Maxfield won, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey got the boot from Tom Collins, not from Vonne Chowning, John Lee trounced Ray Shaffer and Wendell Williams was not re-elected. Overall, not a bad track record, guys.

Knappster's crystal ball must have had some smudges on it last December, because a few of my predictions did little for the reputation of clairvoyants. The G-Sting political corruption probe did expand as predicted, FBI agents have been looking at another politician and a couple of local developers, but there was no second wave of indictments in '04. A Son-of-G-Sting probe into corruption in Nye County made only minor waves because, again, no indictments were handed down, although I am told this too is an ongoing investigation.

I was correct in predicting that potential buyers would cast covetous glances at the Sahara Hotel and all its its prime acreage, but there was no sale and Sahara's owners made it clear to yours truly that they have no interest in selling. No wonder. The joint is jumping. I predicted that Sheldon Adelson's Macau casino would be such a smash hit with Asian gamblers that it would speed up plans for other Las Vegas-style resorts there--all true. I also predicted that Steve Wynn would announce plans for a second property at the D.I. site and that the old D.I. would be imploded--both true. But my guess that Donald Trump and Phil Ruffin would announce plans for the implosion of the Frontier and the construction of a megaresort wasn off the mark. Trump is building a luxury tower at the Frontier, but that isn't the same.

I told you that local developer and philanthropist Robert Bigelow would cut a deal with NASA concerning Bigelow's ongoing development of a revolutionary habitat to be used in space exploration and commercialization. It happened, and it could literally change the world. But I also predicted a nasty lawsuit concerning the proposed Ivanpah airport would explode into the public consciousness. No such luck.

Andrew Kiraly was dead on when he predicted that downtown redevelopment would gain momentum but was incorrect in his guess that the Cleveland Clinic would sign on the dotted line. Likewise for Michael Green's hopeful yearning for a new baseball stadium downtown. Maybe next year. Newt Briggs made one of the best calls when he predicted that local rockers The Killers would be a huge success in '04.

Add it all up and I'd say the Mercury crowd had a pretty good season. But you will notice, there are no such predictions in this issue. Nope. Not again. No siree. Not until next week's issue, anyway.

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Salt Lake Tribune
December 30, 2004

Decision on Goshute waste plan is likely in February

A few weeks late: The safety board is expected to finish work within 60 days

By Patty Henetz
The Salt Lake Tribune

A federal decision on whether to allow a consortium of private utilities to build an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel on the Skull Valley Goshute reservation is likely to come in February, a few weeks later than expected.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing panel, the Atomic Safety Licensing Board, last week determined that unless Utah and Private Fuel Storage (PFS) wish to file further motions, the information-gathering phase of the license procedures has ended.

The Atomic Safety Licensing Board is made up of independent judges who make legal decisions and present findings to NRC regulators. The board is expected to finish its work within 60 days. The three NRC commissioners then will decide whether to order regulators to grant PFS its license, PFS attorney Jay Silberg said Wednesday.

Denise Chancellor, an assistant Utah attorney general, said Tuesday that the state has no further plans to file motions before the board. Nor does PFS, Silberg said.

The Atomic Safety Licensing Board is considering two final matters.

One is an appeal of its earlier ruling that the possibility of an F-16 crash on the PFS storage casks presents an unacceptable risk. In the other, the state claims PFS and nuclear regulators did not properly consider federal Energy Department requirements for acceptance of spent nuclear fuel before issuing a final environmental impact study.

The second matter stems from an Energy Department official's disclosure in October that the type of welded canisters PFS would use to store the spent fuel wouldn't meet contract requirements for permanent storage at Yucca Mountain, Nev. The state

claims that undermines PFS assurances that its storage facility is only temporary.

Before that contention was filed last month, state and PFS officials expected the licensing panel to issue its decision by Jan. 21. Chancellor said she now expects the decision to be delayed as much as a month.

PFS, a limited liability consortium of eight utilities, is seeking a 20-year license, renewable for another 20 years, to store 44,000 tons of nuclear waste in 4,000 concrete and steel canisters that would sit on open-air concrete pads covering about 100 acres 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. If it is licensed, PFS could begin accepting shipments of spent fuel rods by 2007.

Federal law required a permanent nuclear waste repository to open by 1998. But multiple problems with the Yucca Mountain project, including lawsuits, intractable opposition from the state of Nevada and a lack of funding, has made the new 2010 opening deadline unlikely.

PFS officials say nuclear plants are running out of on-site storage for the spent fuel and need someplace to store the waste until Yucca opens.

Utah has no nuclear power plants.

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Las Vegas SUN
December 29, 2004

Business group wants to deal over Yucca

Benefits to state sought for accepting nuclear waste

By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- A new coalition of Nevada business, union and local government leaders plans to pushing for Nevadans to capitalize on the government's plan to store highly radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain.

The 16-member group wants the state to start negotiating options for tax benefits, research grants, new highways, educational opportunities or other benefits as long as the Energy Department still plans to store 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"I think there was a definite time period when we shouldn't have been in those negotiations, but I think that time has passed," said Monte Miller, chief executive of KeyState Corporate Management in Las Vegas and a co-founder of the group, which calls itself "For A Better Nevada."

Gov. Kenny Guinn, Attorney General Brian Sandoval and Nevada's congressional delegation have a united opposition to the planned repository and have said negotiating for benefits is not an option.

The state won one of several legal challenges against the department earlier this year and plans on raising more objections if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ever reviews a license application.

Members of the new group say the coalition is neither for or against the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca. They say the group is simply "focused on capturing any and all economic opportunities and benefits possible for Nevada," according to a press release issued Tuesday announcing the group's creation.

Other Las Vegas members of the group include: auto dealer and casino owner Jim Marsh; Ed Burke, secretary and treasurer of Teamsters Local 631; John Gibson, chief executive of American Pacific Corp.; Terry Graves, president of the Henderson Development Association, real estate developer Jack Libby and Troy Wade, chairman of Nevada Alliance for Defense.

Other Southern Nevadans on the group's founding committee are Candice Trummell, chairwoman of the Nye County Commission and Spencer Hafen, chairman of the Lincoln County Commission, according to Tuesday's announcement. Vaughn Higbee, former Superintendent of schools in Lincoln County is also participating in the coalition.

Northern Nevada members of the group include several Reno residents -- Margaret Cavin, owner of J & J Mechnancial, Rod Cooper, regional manager of Granite Construction Company, Norman Dianda, president of Q&D Construction, and businessmen T.J. Day and Ranson Webster.

Caliente Mayor Kevin Phillips, Bill Nisbet of Chilton Engineering in Elko, Ben Viljoen, chairman of the Esmeralda County Commission and Paul Willis of the Pahrump Town Board are also listed as members of the group.

The idea for a group focused on the economics benefits of Yucca started in 2003 during the Legislature's debates on increasing taxes, said Chris Barrett, a casinos and concrete company lobbyist with IW Strategies in Reno. Barrett is coordinating the group.

Barrett said that as he watched the Legislature create new taxes he thought there should be some benefit to the state for having the proposed repository to lessen the tax burdens on Nevadans. But, he said, he was soon surprised to learn, mainly from the nuclear industry lobbyists, that no one has ever asked for benefits and there is nothing even on the table.

"Look at what they do in Alaska," Barrett said. "Residents get a stipend for oil, why can't we get something like that. Let's look at some alternatives here."

After tour of the Yucca site in November, members of the group decided the waste storage in Nevada is inevitable and wanted to organize their efforts.

"They're not just going to walk away from this," Barrett said, referring to the Energy Department and all the work and money spent so far on the site.

Barrett said the group wants to maximize jobs for residents, get contracts in Nevada to provide goods and services, get payments equal to taxes to local government, more public land transfers, assistance in getting water and develop research opportunities in the state, among a list of other ideas.

"Who else can better take care of Nevada than Nevadans themselves?," Barrett asked.

The group does not have a budget and is mainly relying on members to volunteer their time and make phone calls to other leaders in the state, Barrett said. The group has not taken any money from the Nuclear Energy Institute and would not accept any, he said.

Mitch Singer, an NEI spokesman, said the new group is an independent organization. Trying to get economic benefits is not a new idea, but this is the first gtime a roup has formed to advocate for it.

Former Gov. Bob List, who works with the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's advocacy group that strongly supports the Yucca project, has called for economic benefits in the past and will continue to do so. He said he was aware the group was forming, and although he is not working with them specifically, it will help having people supporting he same cause.

"I certainly think it will be a little less lonely out there," List said. "I think it's a big step. We'd be foolish to let the opportunity pass us up."

But Nevada lawmakers say there is nothing to negotiate. "The law does not provide for any payment to the state and the federal government has no incentive to provide any in the future," said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.

"I believe that as Nevada's economy continues to grow and diversify, many better job and economic opportunities will exist for our residents than working at a deadly nuclear waste dump." Lawmakers and state officials have said deals made with the Energy Department could get broken in the future, similar to the budget cuts of a watchdog group for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.

The state had a deal with the department to fund the group but budget cuts forced it to close this year.

David Cherry, the spokesman for Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said her position on Yucca and the new group is simple.

"This is not the first group to try and sell people in Las Vegas and other Nevada communities on the idea that Yucca Mountain is good for business, and it probably will not be the last," Cherry said.

"What they all fail to mention, however, is that there are no financial benefits to be had and that the cost of a major disaster involving nuclear waste would be catastrophic."

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said he appreciates business leaders looking out for the state's interest, but he will oppose any effort to open the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, said spokesman Adam Mayberry.

"The storage and transportation of 77,000 tons of the most deadly substance known to man in southern Nevada will endanger the health and safety of many citizens far outweighing any economic benefit," he said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., released results from a poll earlier this month that showed 70 percent of the state opposes the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository and that 57 percent said Nevada officials should continue fighting it.

The poll also found 38 percent said Yucca "is inevitable and nothing can be done about it" -- down 5 percentage points from a January 2002 poll.

But Reid said on a November episode of the "Face to Face With Jon Ralston" cable television show that there are limits as to what can be done legislatively. He said he could slow it down but not stop it; it would be up to the courts to do so.

Reid's comments convinced Miller it was time to do something. "When Reid gets on television and says there is nothing else Congress can do, I think it is time to get in the trenches with these guys," Miller said.

Miller said he plans to talk to elected officials he knows to start talking about a negotiation option.

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San Diego Union Tribune
December 29, 2004

Group plans to seek Nevada benefits for hosting Yucca Mountain

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS – A group of Nevada business, union and local officials plans to push the state to get economic benefits from the federal plan to store the nation's most radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, state Attorney General Brian Sandoval and Nevada's congressional delegation are united against the planned repository. They say negotiating for benefits is not an option.

The group issued a news release Tuesday saying it is neither for nor against the Yucca repository, but will focus on "capturing any and all economic opportunities and benefits possible for Nevada."

The announcement lists Nye, Lincoln and Esmeralda county and Caliente and Pahrump elected officials, a prominent Clark County auto dealer and casino owner, a Teamsters union executive, a southern Nevada real estate developer and an Elko businessman and several northern Nevada and Reno residents and business owners.

Barrett told the Sun the group has no budget and is not affiliated with or funded by the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington-based industry advocacy group.

Former Nevada Gov. Bob List, an Nuclear Energy Institute consultant, has been the highest-profile public official in the state to publicly favor the Yucca Mountain project.

"I certainly think it will be a little less lonely out there," List said of the new group. "I think it's a big step. We'd be foolish to let the opportunity pass us up."

The poll also found 38 percent said Yucca "is inevitable and nothing can be done about it," down 5 percentage points from a similar poll in January 2002.

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Atlanta Journal Constitution
December 29, 2004

Georgia Blue Chips

Nuclear waste mounts as disposal plan stalls

Nuclear plant operators are facing seriously expensive storage costs for growing stocks of high-level radioactive waste that the federal government promised it would move to a central repository at Nevada's Yucca Mountain seven years ago.

But the government's plan is stuck at a legislative impasse, while storing the waste --- expected to reach 60,000 metric tons by 2010 --- is costing utilities millions of dollars, an operating expense that increases every year.

Forced to find interim storage solutions, utilities now must decide whether to build temporary facilities, extend licenses for storage in containers at existing sites or consider moving waste to private storage facilities, according to regulators, lobbyists and utilities.

For utilities like American Electric Power, Dominion Resources, Exelon, Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern, storing spent nuclear fuel is an ongoing problem.

The 104 licensed nuclear plants in the United States are a vital component of the nation's energy portfolio, producing 20 percent of the electricity.

But most reactors designed to run for several decades never planned for storing the total amount of spent fuel a reactor generates during its life. This leftover fuel is emptied out of the reactors every 18 to 24 months, and then placed into pools where it must cool for five years.

As these on-site pools have filled, 29 sites in the United States operated by utilities have turned to dry casks as the next solution.

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State of Nevada
Agency for Nuclear Projects
www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/
nwpo@nuc.state.nv.us
775-687-3744
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