Yucca Mountain is Cost Effective and Safeguards Environment, National Security

(Washington, D.C.) – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today applauded the U.S. Department of Energy for recommending the Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada for storage of the nation's nuclear waste from power plants and weapons.  The decision comes after a decade of scientific analysis and political wrangling over where and how to dump nuclear waste.

"For ten years the government has researched how to dispose these materials and whether they could be safely maintained at Yucca Mountain," CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  "We now know the environmental case for Yucca Mountain has been made, and the money for the facility — some $16 billion paid into a fund by nuclear power consumers since 1982 — is ready to be spent."

"Additionally, Sept. 11 should have taught this country a lesson about our potential weak spots," Schatz added.  "Yucca is a very important security precaution against terrorism.  Currently, a terrorist has over 100 chances to breach security where nuclear waste is stored and there are scores of sites — power plants, old reactors, etc. — where nuclear material is currently stored.  Putting most or all nuclear waste in one facility that can be carefully documented and guarded like Ft. Knox, ensures a much higher level of security."  

"Now Congress needs to follow President Bush's lead, by authorizing use of Yucca Mountain," Schatz concluded.

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.