Goshute nuclear plan flayed
About 50 in House sign letter opposing storage
Kucinich, who is still seeking co-signers for the letter to be sent next week, called the proposal "unjust, extremely dangerous and unnecessary. The history of exploitation and racism carried out towards Native Americans by the U.S. government is well documented, and we must not relive it."
Among the signers is Rep. Shelley Berkley, a Nevada Democrat who is joining the PFS fight even though many in the Utah delegation have been lukewarm in supporting Nevada's opposition to a permanent spent-fuel waste dump at Yucca Mountain.
None of the three Utah members of the House had seen the letter as of Friday, but all were supportive.
"I applaud him for what he's doing," said Scott Parker, spokesman for Rep. Bishop, R-Utah. He added the Utah delegation has sent its fair share of letters to the NRC asking for the same thing.
Charles Isom, spokesman for Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, said Cannon hasn't seen the letter but has signed similar letters by the delegation in the past.
Kucinich, one of the few presidential candidates to campaign in Utah during the past election, said it "is unjust for the United States to target a destitute and vulnerable Native American tribe" and that the Skull Valley band of Goshutes possesses an "inextricable spiritual attachment to the land they inhabit, and many tribal members say it is all they have left."
Despite the opposition voices of Kucinich and the others, the NRC is widely expected to ratify the recommendation of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) to grant PFS a license to store up to 40,000 tons of nuclear waste for up to 40 years at the site about 70 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
Utah officials, who have been fighting the proposal during the licensing process, recently lost another round before the ASLB to reconsider its earlier ruling.
A consortium of nuclear power utilities that makes up PFS could begin shipments of spent fuel to Utah within another year or so, depending on the result of the state's inevitable court challenges to the license.
Kucinich echoed what others critics, including Utah officials, have said for years.
"This proposal is a safety risk to all Americans along the transportation routes to the proposed facility," he wrote. "Transporting casks cross-country creates the possibility of a potentially catastrophic radioactivity release due to an accident or terrorist attack."
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