Yucca Mountain
Concerned about hampering the cleanup efforts at the Hanford Nuclear reservation, civic leaders in south-central Washington are challenging the federal government’s decision to abandon Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository.
President Barack Obama has said he doesn’t see the Nevada site as a workable option for storing spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste, and has asked a commission to recommend alternatives.
A lawsuit filed Thursday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals contends the decision to terminate the project violates the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Plaintiffs say they are concerned that waste at Hanford that was to be disposed of at Yucca Mountain could be permanently stranded at the Washington site and derail environmental cleanup there. (AP)
