(The Associated Press circulated the following article on June 21.)
LAS VEGAS — Nevada’s claiming “abuses of authority” and a “decide-first, analyze-later approach” are driving Energy Department plans to build a railroad to haul radioactive waste across the state to Yucca Mountain.
In briefs filed today it’s asking a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. to send the whole thing back to the drawing board.
The state says the Energy Department didn’t properly complete required studies of environmental and human risks.
The Energy Department’s not commenting. It says the matter’s being litigated.
The court’s considering a lawsuit the state filed in September. It hasn’t scheduled oral arguments yet.
Right now, there’s no no railroad to the site the Bush administration and Congress picked in 2002 to bury high-level radioactive waste now stored in 39 states.
The Energy Department says it could have a 319-mile rail line built within six years of opening the Yucca Mountain repository.
But that date’s in doubt.
It’s been pushed back from 2010 to 2012 or later after a recent series of project troubles and budget shortfalls.