Waste Plan May Put Nevada At Risk

"If the Energy Department implements a plan to store high-level nuclear waste above ground outside Yucca Mountain while a permanent repository is being built, the health of Nevada residents would be at risk, state officials say. The DOE is weighing storing nuclear waste above ground near Yucca Mountain to save money on a permanent repository at Yucca now estimated at $58 billion, the Las Vegas Sun has learned. Construction of a permanent repository designed to bury 77,000 tons of radioactive commercial and defense waste would be stretched out over two decades -- with completion sometime after 2030 -- to make it more affordable, according to a DOE plan."