Shelley Berkley: “The Yucca Mountain project is a failure. Twenty years after Nevada was unfairly singled out as the proposed dumpsite for…”

“The Yucca Mountain project is a failure. Twenty years after Nevada was unfairly singled out as the proposed dumpsite for this Nation's radioactive garbage, the only waste at Yucca Mountain is the $12 million that has now been wasted on this ridiculous proposal. Plans for Yucca Mountain threaten the safety of the families I represent and the lives of 50 million Americans who will be at risk from shipments of toxic radioactive garbage headed to Yucca Mountain. One spill involving this deadly nuclear waste could make people sick, die, and shut down our roads and railways, and cost millions to clean up. Nuclear waste shipments are also prime targets for terrorists looking to unleash radiation on unsuspecting communities or to steal material needed to make a dirty bomb. Current plans call for thousands of nuke waste shipments on America's roads and railways, each one vulnerable to a handheld missile or 9/11-style suicide attack, the results of which could be devastating. Decades of 'mobile Chernobyls' passing by homes, schools, hospitals, houses of worship, each an accident waiting to happen. And believe me, Mr. Chairman, our first responders have no training and no resources needed to deal with incidents involving these nuclear waste shipments.”