Harry Reid: “I have heard my friend, the distinguished junior Senator from Alaska speak, as I have heard the Senator from Idaho speak…”

“I have heard my friend, the distinguished junior Senator from Alaska speak, as I have heard the Senator from Idaho speak on several occasions during the last few days. I have chosen not to respond because what my friends have spoken about we have heard many times. We have a situation on which the American people are now focusing. The focus for many years has been whether Yucca Mountain is a suitable site for a nuclear waste depository. Scientifically, that has fallen apart for many reasons. One is that under the statute, Yucca Mountain and/or any other site was supposed to be a facility that would geologically protect the American people from nuclear waste. Yucca Mountain didn't work. They have learned that geologically it can't do that because of the fault lines, because of the water tables, and because of many other facts. They decided to use Yucca Mountain anyway. But they would build an encasement and put it down in the hole. They would have the waste in containers in Yucca Mountain. The point is that now people are no longer focusing on Yucca Mountain. They are not focusing on Yucca Mountain because they have come to the realization they have to get it there some way. You are not going to wake up one morning and suddenly find thousands of tons of nuclear waste from around the country from different reactors there. No. You will have to haul it there. We have learned they are going to haul it by water, by train, and by truck. They can haul all they want.…”