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The Environmental Protection Agency plans to re-evaluate the rocket fuel chemical perchlorate, once made near Lake Mead, because of its potential health impacts on infants and children. Under the Bush administration, the EPA made a preliminary decision not to regulate perchlorate in drinking water. In the 1990s scientists discovered perchlorate from two chemical plants in Henderson in Las Vegas Wash and Lake Mead waters. Lake Mead supplies 90 percent of Las Vegas Valley's drinking water.

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to re-evaluate the rocket fuel chemical perchlorate, once made near Lake Mead, because of its potential health impacts on infants and children. Under the Bush administration, the EPA made a preliminary decision not to regulate perchlorate in drinking water. In the 1990s scientists discovered perchlorate from two chemical plants in Henderson in Las Vegas Wash and Lake Mead waters. Lake Mead supplies 90 percent of Las Vegas Valley's drinking water.

The Department of Homeland Security has canceled a Federal Emergency Management Agency training exercise that would have simulated the detonation of a nuclear device on the Las Vegas Strip. Sen. Harry Reid's office today confirmed the cancellation of the exercise for first responders that had been scheduled for May 2010. Reid and several Southern Nevada tourism and business leaders objected to the scenario, suggesting that it could create unnecessary anxiety to efforts to boost tourism and investment in Las Vegas. "I thank the Department of Homeland Security for considering my letter to Secretary (Janet) Napolitano and reaching the decision to cancel this exercise so quickly," Reid said in a statement issued this morning.

The Department of Homeland Security has canceled a Federal Emergency Management Agency training exercise that would have simulated the detonation of a nuclear device on the Las Vegas Strip. Sen. Harry Reid's office today confirmed the cancellation of the exercise for first responders that had been scheduled for May 2010. Reid and several Southern Nevada tourism and business leaders objected to the scenario, suggesting that it could create unnecessary anxiety to efforts to boost tourism and investment in Las Vegas. "I thank the Department of Homeland Security for considering my letter to Secretary (Janet) Napolitano and reaching the decision to cancel this exercise so quickly," Reid said in a statement issued this morning.

Pete De La Garza knows uranium mining in his county came with tradeoffs. As Kleberg County judge, he feels it is the duty of county officials to oversee the Kingsville Dome operations of Uranium Resources Inc. and to make sure the company fulfills its obligation to restore water quality levels. "Checks and balances, that's what it's all about," said De La Garza, from Kingsville. County residents have complained about how much money has been spent to fight the uranium company, which has been in the county for more than 20 years. De La Garza admits the county spent more than $1 million.

For more than 20 years, the government's plan to dispose of highly radioactive spent fuel piling up at U.S. nuclear power reactors has been to haul it to Yucca Mountain and entomb it in a maze of tunnels. But this year, more than a decade before the first shipment was ever expected to arrive at the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and years before a license could have been approved for the project, the Obama administration halted funding, saying the Nevada site was "not an option." That prompted a group of university experts on nuclear waste policy to explore another plan. That plan, they hope, will chart the course for a soon-to-be-chosen Department of Energy blue ribbon panel to follow as it sets out to develop a new national nuclear waste strategy.

Department of Energy lawyers are forging ahead with their defense of a license application to build the nation's nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. They met a deadline last week for filing briefs on questions that Nevada's attorneys raised with a nuclear regulatory panel, which is tracking safety concerns about plans for turning the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, into a burial site for 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste. Most Popular Stories # Sahara closes two hotel towers due to low demand # Real estate analysts predict continued gloom for Las Vegas # CITYCENTER'S ARIA: THE CRESCENDO # Fatal pedestrian accident shuts down I-15 # Teen arrested in slaying of mother # NORM: Palms owner sees Gaga as Palms hit # NORM: Trump fires back about CityCenter # NORM: The Donald slams new megaresort # Armored truck heist nets $36,000 # Teacher arrested on sexual misconduct charges The briefs were filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board despite the Obama administration's stance that Yucca Mountain is no longer an option for a repository. An internal DOE memo that surfaced last month also stated, "All license defense activities will be terminated in December 2009." Nevada's top legal consultant, Marty Malsch, had hoped lawyers for the DOE would default by missing the deadline but was not surprised that didn't happen. "As things now stand, they are pursuing the license application by defending their position in the briefs they filed," he said Tuesday.

Department of Energy lawyers are forging ahead with their defense of a license application to build the nation's nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. They met a deadline last week for filing briefs on questions that Nevada's attorneys raised with a nuclear regulatory panel, which is tracking safety concerns about plans for turning the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, into a burial site for 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste. Most Popular Stories # Sahara closes two hotel towers due to low demand # Real estate analysts predict continued gloom for Las Vegas # CITYCENTER'S ARIA: THE CRESCENDO # Fatal pedestrian accident shuts down I-15 # Teen arrested in slaying of mother # NORM: Palms owner sees Gaga as Palms hit # NORM: Trump fires back about CityCenter # NORM: The Donald slams new megaresort # Armored truck heist nets $36,000 # Teacher arrested on sexual misconduct charges The briefs were filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board despite the Obama administration's stance that Yucca Mountain is no longer an option for a repository. An internal DOE memo that surfaced last month also stated, "All license defense activities will be terminated in December 2009." Nevada's top legal consultant, Marty Malsch, had hoped lawyers for the DOE would default by missing the deadline but was not surprised that didn't happen. "As things now stand, they are pursuing the license application by defending their position in the briefs they filed," he said Tuesday.

A state petition listing more than 200 reasons for not opening a federal nuclear waste dump in southern Nevada was filed Friday with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto. Among major concerns highlighted by Masto and other state officials at a news conference in Las Vegas was what they termed an incomplete and inadequate plan for shipping high-level radioactive waste across the country to the Yucca Mountain site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Report: Energy Department on verge of abandoning nuke dump application We have cheered the Obama administration's decision to eventually shutter the ill-conceived Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project by starving it of federal funding. Nonetheless, our optimism has been tempered because the Energy Department still has a pending license application before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a permanent dump for the nation's high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. What we eagerly await is the day when the Energy Department abandons the application so that the idea of forcing a potentially deadly nuke waste dump, on a state that does not want it, is buried for good.

Report: Energy Department on verge of abandoning nuke dump application We have cheered the Obama administration's decision to eventually shutter the ill-conceived Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project by starving it of federal funding. Nonetheless, our optimism has been tempered because the Energy Department still has a pending license application before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a permanent dump for the nation's high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. What we eagerly await is the day when the Energy Department abandons the application so that the idea of forcing a potentially deadly nuke waste dump, on a state that does not want it, is buried for good.

Report: Energy Department on verge of abandoning nuke dump application We have cheered the Obama administration's decision to eventually shutter the ill-conceived Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project by starving it of federal funding. Nonetheless, our optimism has been tempered because the Energy Department still has a pending license application before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a permanent dump for the nation's high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. What we eagerly await is the day when the Energy Department abandons the application so that the idea of forcing a potentially deadly nuke waste dump, on a state that does not want it, is buried for good.

"Experts to assess potential danger posed to one of Chile's two nuclear facilities Responding to concerns of local residents, Chile´s Commission on Nuclear Energy is beginning to investigate the risks posed by the Center for Nuclear Studies in the Santiago borough of La Reina. The San Ramón geological fault runs through the eastern part of Santiago where the Center is located. While the reactor was not damaged during February's earthquake, residents of La Reina have voiced concerns about the possibility of a future disaster. The Director of the Commission, Fernando López, explained that there was a 1969 study on the San Ramón fault, but that those results had not been updated. While the current status of the fault is unknown, it did cause an earthquake in 1647 that affected Santiago severely. "

A state petition listing more than 200 reasons for not opening a federal nuclear waste dump in southern Nevada was filed Friday with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto. Among major concerns highlighted by Masto and other state officials at a news conference in Las Vegas was what they termed an incomplete and inadequate plan for shipping high-level radioactive waste across the country to the Yucca Mountain site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has suspended the principal portions of its reviews of Combined License (COL) applications for the River Bend site near Baton Rouge, La., and the Grand Gulf site near Vicksburg, Miss., following a request from the applicant, Entergy. The NRC has also cancelled a public meeting on the River Bend application originally planned for Thursday, Jan. 29, in St. Francisville, La. Entergy applied to the NRC in February 2008 for Grand Gulf, and in September 2008 for River Bend, for COLs to build and operate an Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor at each site. Entergy informed the NRC in a Jan. 9 letter that the company is currently considering alternate reactor technologies for both sites, and asked the agency to halt its work on the COL applications. In honoring this request, the NRC is conducting an orderly closeout of environmental reviews done for the Grand Gulf COL. The NRC will also continue interactions with the Federal Emergency Management Agency regarding emergency preparedness issues associated with the potential of additional reactors at the sites.

California is urging federal regulators to turn down the Energy Department's bid to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, charging analysts did not fully study how the plan would affect Death Valley groundwater and the state's transportation networks. "Proceeding with the project in the manner described by DOE poses a threat to the people, natural resources and environment of California," attorneys said at the outset of a 400-page document filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Share & Save Newsvine Digg Fark Technorati reddit StumbleUpon del.icio.us Slashdot Propeller Mixx Furl Twitter MySpace Facebook Google Bookmarks Yahoo! Bookmarks Windows Live Favorites Ask MyStuff myAOL Favorites What is this? Most Popular Stories # WYNN RESORTS: Enter the Encore # NORM: Fredericks bidding KVBC-TV farewell # HAPPY NEW YEAR: Rates for rooms at discounts # SILENT NIGHT: Workers outnumber stocked racks at soon-to-be-closed stores # NORM: Deadbeat leaves his mark on Strip # F Street closing called biased # NORM: Record numbers of strippers seen # LAS VEGAS LAWYER: Justices chide 'heavy hitter' # North Las Vegas police officer arrested on misconduct, other charges # Station Casinos to use its remaining credit The commission "may not approve DOE's license application unless DOE provides an adequate environmental analysis that analyzes threats to California and how to mitigate them," said the lawyers from the state's Energy Commission and its Department of Justice.

The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel's Pre-License Application Presiding Officer (PAPO) Board will hold a case management meeting Dec. 2 in Rockville, Md., to discuss how classified information will be protected and handled during adjudicatory hearings on the proposed high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. Representatives from the Department of Energy, the state of Nevada, and the NRC staff will attend the meeting at the ASLB hearing room at NRC headquarters, Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. Other potential parties who have filed a notice of appearance may participate either in person or by video hookup in the NRC's Las Vegas Hearing Facility, Pacific Enterprise Plaza, Building 1, 3250 Pepper Lane, Las Vegas, beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. Members of the public are welcome to observe the meeting at either location. The meeting will also be Webcast on the Internet at http://www.visualwebcaster.com/event.asp?id=53642.

Exelon Nuclear spokes-man Bill Stoermer says dry cask storage of spent nuclear fuel is safe, secure, and reliable. Stoermer, government affairs manager for the utility, told the Marseilles City Council during the regular bi-monthly meeting Wednesday evening that La Salle Generating Station is constructing a dry cask storage facility at a cost of $30 million to $40 million.

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A Bush administration bid to win approval for a national nuclear waste dump outside Las Vegas was challenged Wednesday by the state as too little and six years too late. State Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission not to register the license application or schedule it for hearings, calling it "legally deficient."

LAS VEGAS, May 19 (UPI) -- A Nevada woman says her long-running battle for compensation for her husband's death has become a crusade to expose U.S. Department of Labor intransigence. Bonnie Mattick told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the agency has refused to authorize the $150,000 in she feels she is owed after her husband died of cancer she says was caused by his work with toxic and radioactive materials at the Nevada Test Site.

Remember the feds' controversial plan to store all of the country's spent nuclear fuel deep inside Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert some 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas? Well it looks like that proposed resting place for the country's nuclear waste has apparently been, well, laid to rest. When President Obama unveiled his budget last month, he essentially eliminated funding to prepare the site as the nation's nuke graveyard. The scant funds still to be allotted, according to the Las Vegas Sun, will just be enough to allow the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-the body responsible for managing civilian nuke power-to hold planned hearings on licensing the facility's construction.

In 1991, facing obvious limits to growth from meager water resources, Las Vegas power brokers decided to bring the drama of high stakes gambling from the casinos to the board room of the Southern Nevada Water Authority headed by the Bernie Madoff of Western water, Pat Mulroy. The strategy was even proudly Ballyhooed in public. Las Vegas would just keep building beyond the capacity of its Colorado River allocation and dare other states or the federal government to stop them. At the time, a spokesman for Nevada's Colorado River Commission even announced, "The federal government will never let Nevada go dry."

Las Vegas » Clark County officials are moving forward with a $200,000 study evaluating risks for transporting nuclear waste to a repository that has yet to open and has had its funding cut numerous times. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has declared that the Yucca Mountain project 90 miles from Las Vegas is no longer considered an option for radioactive waste storage, but county officials say they want to be armed with as much information as possible to keep the dump from ever opening. The study will examine rail and truck corridors that could be used to haul high-level nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel to Yucca Mountain, which is the site legally designated to hold the nation's high-level radioactive waste.

"U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Friday that the United States needs to come up with a better system for storing or disposing of radioactive nuclear waste than a planned repository near Las Vegas. "The president has made it very clear that we are going to go beyond Yucca mountain. You should go beyond Yucca mountain," Chu said. "But instead of wringing my hands, let's go forward and do something better." The Obama administration, in January, announced it was stopping the license application for a long-planned multi-billion dollar nuclear waste storage site at Yucca Mountain near Las Vegas, which is opposed by environmental groups."

A government report released today said developing Yucca Mountain would cost twice as much as other options for storing nuclear waste, but that both interim or on-site storage alternatives would face long-term costs and potential political pitfalls. The report comes the day after a longtime advocate of nuclear power said during a speech in Washington that the Yucca Mountain project is dead. Nevada's lawmakers said the developments are more evidence that the proposed nuclear waste dump 90 miles north of Las Vegas will not be built. "This $100 billion dinosaur's days are numbered," Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley said in a statement. "It's long past time those who produced this nuclear garbage take responsibility for finding a real solution to this issue."

A government report released today said developing Yucca Mountain would cost twice as much as other options for storing nuclear waste, but that both interim or on-site storage alternatives would face long-term costs and potential political pitfalls. The report comes the day after a longtime advocate of nuclear power said during a speech in Washington that the Yucca Mountain project is dead. Nevada's lawmakers said the developments are more evidence that the proposed nuclear waste dump 90 miles north of Las Vegas will not be built. "This $100 billion dinosaur's days are numbered," Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley said in a statement. "It's long past time those who produced this nuclear garbage take responsibility for finding a real solution to this issue."