RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — Three civic leaders in south-central Washington are challenging the federal government’s decision to abandon Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository.
President Obama has said he doesn’t see the Nevada site as a workable option for storing spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. He has asked a commission to recommend alternatives.
Bob Ferguson, Bill Lampson and Gary Petersen filed a lawsuit in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. on Thursday. They say the decision to terminate the project violates the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.
They are concerned that waste at the Hanford nuclear reservation that was to be disposed of at Yucca Mountain could be permanently stranded at Hanford and derail environmental cleanup there.
