RADIATION COMING TO RAILS?; BILL COULD ALLOW TRANSPORT OF NUCLEAR WASTE THROUGH AREA.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer A showdown is brewing brewing: see beer. between President Clinton and Congress over a plan to ship nuclear waste to Nevada - a plan environmentalists believe will result in radioactive waste radioactive waste, material containing the unusable radioactive byproducts of the scientific, military, and industrial applications of nuclear energy. Since its radioactivity presents a serious health hazard (see radiation sickness), disposing of such material is a traveling by train through the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley . Clinton has promised to veto veto [Lat.,=I forbid], power of one functionary (e.g., the president) of a government, or of one member of a group or coalition, to block the operation of laws or agreements passed or entered into by the other functionaries or members. In the U.S. the plan to store the waste on a temporary basis at Yucca Mountain Yucca Mountain, mountain in the SW Nevada desert about 100 mi (161 km) northwest of Las Vegas. It is the proposed site of a Dept. of Energy (DOE) repository for up to 77,000 metric tons of nuclear waste (including commercial and defense spent fuel and high-level , Nev. The plan, called the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1997, was approved by the House of Representatives by a 307 to 120 vote on Thursday. The Senate version of the plan was approved this spring with 65 votes. There are enough votes in the House to override An arrangement whereby commissions are made by sales managers based upon the sales made by their subordinate sales representatives. A term found in an agreement between a real estate agent and a property owner whereby the agent keeps the right to receive a commission for the sale of the veto, but the issue is too close to call in the Senate. Among those opposed to the bill is Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita. McKeon said once waste is accepted on a ``temporary'' basis at Yucca Mountain there will be no incentive to develop a permanent waste disposal site. McKeon also objected to the choice of a western state for a disposal site despite the origin of 75 percent of the nation's nuclear waste in eastern states Eastern States can refer to several locations:
``Nevada was selected because, being a small state, they did not have any clout politically in Congress,'' McKeon said. The bill does not specify what routes the waste would take, but a study by the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects suggested the Southern Pacific rail line from Mojave through Palmdale and east to Victorville as one of the routes. Antelope Valley opponents of the bill believe that, if the bill becomes law, nuclear waste from the closed Rancho ran·cho n. pl. ran·chos Southwestern U.S. 1. A hut or group of huts for housing ranch workers. 2. A ranch. Seco plant near Sacramento would be shipped by rail through Lancaster and Palmdale. The bill is intended to provide relief for nuclear sites that are running out of storage space. A nuclear dump was supposed to open in 1998, but that date has slipped to 2010. Already more than $4 billion has been spent on the project. Opponents call the plan ``the mobile Chernobyl bill.'' The plan, they argue, could put some 50 million Americans at risk from exposure to radiation as the material is trucked in or sent by rail. Proponents say the waste can be shipped safely. They argue it would be safer to store the material in an isolated desert area rather than leaving the material at the power plants generating the waste - plants that are close to urban areas. Plans call for storing 40,000 tons of nuclear waste in an above-ground storage facility. The waste would be stored in metal containers inside concrete bunkers. |
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