Feds will recommend killing Yucca next week, nuke director says

Nuclear Projects Office Director Bruce Breslow told lawmakers Wednesday the federal Department of Energy will file an application next week to withdraw the application to license Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste dump.

He said the application, supported by his office and Nevada, will seek to end the application "with prejudice," which would prevent it from being re-filed.

The nuclear power industry is expected to oppose the withdrawal.

Breslow said this action should end the Yucca Mountain battle after 23 years of fighting.

Assembly members praised the efforts to kill the project but shifted their concerns to the status of the Nevada Test Site, which for decades was the scene of nuclear tests above and below ground.

Breslow said Nevada wants the test site designated as a Superfund site.

"There are upwards of billions of dollars that could come to the state of Nevada if that site was declared a Superfund site," said Breslow.

He said he would like the authority to go after the federal Department of Energy to get that declaration, saying the DOE is responsible for remediation of contaminated sites caused by the federal government.