News Releases Printer Friendly Senator Murray's Statement on Denial of Motion to Close Yucca Mountain

Statement

Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray released the following statement after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board denied the Department of Energy's motion to withdraw its license application for Yucca Mountain.

"It is clear from today's decision that the Department of Energy does not have the authority to unilaterally attempt to terminate the Yucca Mountain project. Given today's decision, the Department should stop all current actions to terminate the project."

"Over the last 30 years, Congress, independent studies, and previous administrations have all pointed to, voted for, and funded Yucca Mountain as the nation's best option for a nuclear repository. And in concert with those decisions, billions of dollars and countless work hours have been spent at Hanford and nuclear waste sites across the country in an effort to treat and package nuclear waste that will be sent there. Without a repository, those sites and the communities that support them have been left in limbo."

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