Senate Joint Resolution No. 6–Senators Titus, Wiener, Schneider, Mathews, Carlton, Amodei, Care, Coffin, Jacobsen, James, McGinness, O’Connell, O’Donnell, Porter, Raggio, Rawson, Rhoads, Shaffer, Townsend and Washington

 

Joint Sponsors: Assemblymen  Perkins, Buckley, Gibbons, Parks, Bache, Koivisto, Leslie, Anderson, Angle, Arberry, Beers, Berman, Brower, Brown, Carpenter, Cegavske, Chowning, Claborn, Collins, de Braga, Dini, Giunchigliani, Goldwater, Gustavson, Hettrick, Humke, Lee, Manendo, McClain, Mortenson, Neighbors, Nolan, Oceguera, Ohrenschall, Parnell, Price, Smith, Von Tobel and Williams

 

FILE NUMBER..........

 

Senate Joint RESOLUTION—Providing notice of disapproval to Congress and the President of the United States if Yucca Mountain is recommended as the site for a repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.

 

   Whereas, Pursuant to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, 42 U.S.C.

 §§ 10101 et seq., as amended, the United States Department of Energy has

 been studying Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada as a possible site for a

 repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste; and

   Whereas, The Department of Energy continues to make unfounded

 and biased assumptions about the suitability of Yucca Mountain as a

 repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, despite

 mounting scientific evidence that there are serious flaws at the site and

 that Yucca Mountain cannot meet required health and safety standards;

 and

   Whereas, A recently released memorandum from the Department of

 Energy openly admits that the Department’s site evaluation reports are not

 aimed at determining whether Yucca Mountain can safely isolate deadly

 radioactive waste from people and the environment, but rather are

 designed to “sell” the project to members of Congress; and

   Whereas, The Yucca Mountain Project is currently being investigated

 by the Department of Energy’s own Office of Inspector General because

 of mounting evidence of possible bias in the Department’s approach to site

 characterization; and

   Whereas, Certain members of Congress and supporters of the for

-profit, commercial nuclear power industry continue to press for legislation

 that would allow spent nuclear fuel to be shipped to Nevada for

 “temporary” storage even though Yucca Mountain has not been found to

 be suitable as a repository; and

   Whereas, Congress and the commercial nuclear power industry

 continue to ignore the reality that neither Yucca Mountain nor the Nevada

 Test Site are suitable locations for storing spent nuclear fuel and high-level

 radioactive waste; and

   Whereas, The promotion of new nuclear power plants under the guise

 of responding to the electricity crisis facing California, as proposed in

 energy legislation being considered in Congress, is irresponsible given that

 the issue of safe disposal of the waste has not been resolved; and

 

 

   Whereas, New and innovative approaches to the management of spent

nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste are needed before any actions

 are taken that would result in the creation of new facilities that would add

 to the waste problem; and

   Whereas, The Department of Energy has announced that it plans to

 make a recommendation regarding the suitability of Yucca Mountain as a

 repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste to the

 President in 2001; and

   Whereas, The Department of Energy has the opportunity to put the

 nation back on course toward a credible, effective and fair approach to

 dealing with the problem of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive

 waste by acknowledging that Yucca Mountain is not a suitable or safe

 location for a repository, and recommending to the President that the site

 be disqualified; and

   Whereas, The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended,

 provides for the submission of a notice of disapproval by the Legislature

 or Governor of the State of Nevada in the event the President recommends

 Yucca Mountain for development as a repository for spent nuclear fuel

 and high-level radioactive waste; and

   Whereas, The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended, also

 provides that such a notice of disapproval shall cause Yucca Mountain to

 be withdrawn from further consideration unless overridden by a majority

 in both houses of Congress; now, therefore, be it

   Resolved by the Senate and Assembly of the State of Nevada,

 Jointly, That the Nevada Legislature protests, in the strongest possible

 terms, the biased and blatantly political manner in which the Department

 of Energy has conducted its evaluation of the suitability of Yucca

 Mountain as the location of a repository for spent nuclear fuel and high

-level radioactive waste and the unconscionable use of so-called

 “scientific” reports to openly promote the project with members of

 Congress and others; and be it further

   Resolved, That the Nevada Legislature calls on President George W.

 Bush to veto any legislation that would attempt to locate a temporary or

 interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in Nevada; and be it further

   Resolved, That the Nevada Legislature calls on Spencer Abraham, the

 Secretary of Energy, to abandon consideration of Yucca Mountain as a

 repository site, initiate a process whereby the nation can again engage in

 innovative and ultimately successful strategies for dealing with the

 problems of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, and

 oppose any effort to promote new nuclear power facilities until these new

 solutions have been implemented; and be it further

   Resolved, That the Nevada Legislature formally restates its strong and

 unyielding opposition to the development of Yucca Mountain as a

 repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste and to

 the storage or disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive

 waste in the State of Nevada; and be it further

   Resolved, That the Federal Government, its agencies and

 instrumentalities is prohibited from establishing a repository for spent

 nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain without

 the prior expressed consent of the Nevada Legislature or a cession of

jurisdiction pursuant to chapter 328 of the Nevada Revised Statutes, and

that such consent and cession are hereby withheld; and be it further

   Resolved, That this resolution hereby constitutes notice of disapproval

 from the Nevada Legislature pursuant to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of

 1982, 42 U.S.C. § 10136, as amended, should the President recommend to

 Congress that Yucca Mountain be developed as a repository for spent

 nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste; and be it further

   Resolved, That this resolution becomes effective upon passage and

 constitutes the official position of the Nevada Legislature; and be it further

   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate prepare and transmit a copy

 of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Vice President

 of the United States as the presiding officer of the United States Senate,

 the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Secretary of Energy and

 each member of the Nevada Congressional Delegation.

 

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