Greenwire: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) has asked the state’s attorney general to “pursue every legal action possible” to stop the Obama administration’s planned shutdown of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada.
Sanford and two members of South Carolina’s congressional delegation are scheduled to hold a news conference today to voice their displeasure with the White House plan.
Sanford will call for President Obama “to recommit to Yucca Mountain” but will not announce any specific legal action today, said spokesman Ben Fox.
South Carolina’s options are unclear. But the governor’s reaction reflects the confusion, anger and resignation surrounding the planned Yucca termination among some of the 38 states where radioactive fuel likely will remain stored at reactor sites for decades longer while the government devises alternatives to the Nevada storage facility.
South Carolina houses an estimated 4,000 metric tons of nuclear waste from seven commercial nuclear reactors and defense nuclear waste stored at the Savannah River processing center (Steve Tetreault, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Feb. 16). – TL