S.C. Rep. Spratt challenges NRC over Yucca Mountain decision

Sammy Fretwell | The State (Columbia, S.C.)

U.S. Rep. John Spratt has complained to the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about an agency decision that could make it harder to open the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal site in Nevada.

The NRC reportedly has stopped reviewing a license application to operate the waste repository, Spratt said Monday. The Obama Administration has plans to abandon Yucca Mountain, but the matter has been challenged in court.

The government for decades planned to open a site for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste generated at the nation’s nuclear power plants and atomic weapons facilities, including the Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C..

Plans to use Yucca Mountain have been fiercely opposed by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, but lawmakers in other parts of the country — including South Carolina — want it to open.

To read the complete article, visit www.thestate.com.

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