President Bush approved on Friday a plan to bury the nation’s radioactive waste in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, provoking a firestorm of outrage and an immediate lawsuit by the state’s governor, Kenny Guinn (R). The federal government has spent 10 years and $4 – $7 billion on studying the Yucca site to determine if it is a suitable burial ground for the 77,000 tons of nuclear waste generated by the nation’s 131 nuclear power plants. Yucca Mountain has been the only site to receive serious consideration in recent years, and it has been a highly controversial one. Nevada politicians, the state’s tourism sector, environmentalists, scientists, and anti-nuclear advocates all oppose the use of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository. Critics point out that the waste would be shipped through 42 states, only to arrive at a site that is crisscrossed with 34 fault lines. Nevada has set aside $5.4 million to fight the decision.
