Nevada lawmakers hear Yucca suits overview

Lawmakers on Monday reviewed spending plans from the Nevada Office of Nuclear Projects and heard a confident assessment of the state's legal battles against the planned Yucca Mountain radioactive waste dump.

Agency administrator Robert Loux told the Senate Finance Committee that the state can win its fight against the federal government, saying the three federal judges who will hear its lawsuits are "strict statutory construction guys" who may be sympathetic to the state's arguments.

In September, the judges will hear three cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

They are among four lawsuits filed by Nevada attacking various aspects of the federal government's plan to bury high-level, radioactive waste in the desert 90 miles north of Las Vegas.

Loux also outlined for lawmakers a water-rights lawsuit filed by the federal government. The state has approved only a minimal water flow to Yucca facilities, and the Energy Department is suing to get more.

A federal court in Las Vegas is expected to hear oral arguments in the water case next month, Loux said.

Lawmakers said they support the agency but questioned the its $8.2 million spending plan. The two-year budget proposal includes a 9 percent increase in state funding from the past biennium.

Loux said most of the increase would go to computer and technology services.

He also said a temporary nuclear dump in Utah would likely begin receiving waste by the end of the year. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to issue a permit for the 820-acre site next month.

The Utah dump will be licensed to hold 40,000 tons of nuclear waste.