VALLEY NUCLEAR-FUEL ROUTE CLOSER U.S. SENATE OKS NEVADA WASTE STORAGE SITE.

Byline: Bill Hillburg Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Opponents vowed Tuesday to fight on as the Senate approved the Yucca Mountain nuclear storage project in Nevada, setting the stage for shipments of highly radioactive waste through the San Fernando Valley.

``This is an absolute tragedy waiting to happen to my state,'' said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who along with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., opposed Yucca Mountain in a recorded 60-39 vote to take up the issue and a voice vote to approve the project.

The Senate also rejected an effort by the state of Nevada to block the waste storage project across the border from California's Death Valley.

``This battle isn't over yet,'' said Daniel Hirsch, president of the Committee to Bridge the Gap, a Los Angeles-based anti-nuclear group. ``Approving Yucca Mountain is the most damaging action the human species has ever undertaken on this continent.''

``This is the time to stay vigilant. There are options other than shipping waste through highly populated areas,'' said Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Oxnard, who joined fellow Republican Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, and all local Democratic House members in voting against the project May 8.

The Yucca Mountain depository was strongly supported by President George W. Bush and the nuclear energy industry. Proponents argued that the project, first proposed in 1982, is a safe, secure alternative to storing waste at hundreds of sites around the nation.

Hirsch said Bridge the Gap and other activist groups will turn to the courts to block the project, arguing that the Yucca Mountain site is unsuitable and unsafe. Failing that, he said, activists will resort to civil disobedience to block shipments.

Department of Energy proposals for shipping waste to Yucca Mountain include a controversial route that would move spent nuclear fuel via barge from the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County to Port Hueneme and then across Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley via train.

Other proposed routes include a rail line through the Antelope Valley and across the high desert to Victorville; multiple rail links through the San Gabriel, Pomona and San Bernardino valleys; and a truck route from the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant and along the Santa Ana, San Gabriel and San Bernardino freeway corridors.

In addition, train shipments from as far away as Texas would cross the Mojave Desert to connect with Nevada-bound lines near Barstow.

An estimated 77,000 tons of nuclear waste would be shipped to Yucca Mountain between 2010 and 2040.

In a letter to Gallegly, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham wrote Monday that decisions on the routes were still five or six years away and that all needed safety procedures would be in place by then.

Gallegly worried about the vagueness of the DOE's shipment plans, and predicted that the congressional battle over Yucca Mountain would be rejoined once the agency finalizes its proposal.

Alternatives backed by Gallegly and other foes include setting up several regional nuclear storage facilities, in addition to Yucca Mountain.

``There's no doubt that we need to safely store nuclear waste,'' he said. ``But there's no reason it all has to come to the West. And the farther we have to ship it, the higher the risk will be for an accident.''