Las Vegas Review-Journal By GARY MARTIN 3/15/2017
WASHINGTON — A lawsuit filed by Texas in an appellate court claims the federal government violated the law in failing to complete the licensing process for permanent storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Wednesday the lawsuit was filed in the New Orleans-based U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. It seeks an up or down vote by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the Yucca Mountain site.
“For decades, the federal government has ignored our growing problem of nuclear waste,” Paxton said in a statement released in Austin.
“The NRC’s inaction on licensing Yucca Mountain subjects the public and the environment to potential dangerous risks from radioactive waste,” Paxton said. “We do not intend to sit quietly anymore.”
The lawsuit brought a swift rebuke by Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev.
She suggested the lawsuit was an attempt to divert attention from Paxton’s legal woes. He has a scheduled May court date on state charges that he misled investors when he was a state representative.
“I suggest the Texas attorney general spend more time concentrating on the serious charges he is facing for securities fraud and less time trying to distract voters of Texas by screwing the people of Nevada,” Titus said.
“Yucca Mountain remains a dead and failed proposal. Any attempt to spend billions on this boondoggle is bad science and wasted resources,” Titus said.
But Paxton claims that several federal agencies have violated the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act to provide a permanent repository for nuclear wastes generated by non-military reactors nationwide.
As of the end of 2014, more than 74,000 metric tons of nuclear waste were being temporarily stored at various facilities across the country, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Texas maintains that the 2012 deadline for a decision on making Yucca Mountain a permanent repository was ignored by the federal government.
More:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/texas-files-lawsuit-over-licensing-yucca-mountain