The House joined the Senate yesterday in approving legislation that would create a permanent storage site for nuclear waste in Nevada, though neither body passed the bill with enough votes to overturn a promised presidential veto. The bill would open the way for thousands of tons of nuclear waste from power plants around the country to be shipped to Yucca Mountain in Nevada as early as 2007. President Clinton’s primary objection to the bill is that it would weaken the authority of the EPA to set radiation exposure limits at the site. Enviros have raised questions about the safety of the proposed site and warned about the dangers of a “mobile Chernobyl” if trucks and trains start carrying radioactive material from across the country to Nevada.
