Energy Department to recommend Nevada nuclear waste storage

State's governor, U.S. senators oppose site

From Major Garrett
CNN Washington Bureau

JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (CNN) -- President Bush will receive a formal Energy Department recommendation Monday to store all the nation's high-level radioactive nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, administration officials said Sunday.

The officials said they expect Bush to endorse the recommendation. A White House announcement could come as early as Wednesday, the officials said.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham spent the weekend putting the final touches on the Yucca Mountain recommendation. The massive, highly technical document will arrive Monday at the White House.

Yucca Mountain is the site of a proposed underground storage facility envisioned since 1987 as the final resting place for an estimated 77,000 metric tons of high-level radioactive waste produced by the nation's nuclear power plants. Nuclear reactors operate in 34 states.

The Abraham recommendation is a crucial step toward endorsing the Yucca Mountain site. A 1987 law places great weight on the formal Department of Energy recommendation.

If Bush endorses it, as expected, the state of Nevada can reject the recommendation. But both houses of Congress would have to support Nevada's veto to block the project. Members of the Nevada congressional delegation said they doubt that both chambers would do so.

Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, warned that he likely would veto the proposal, according to a statement posted on his Web site.

"This issue is of the utmost importance to Nevadans, which is why I will take this message directly to the president," Guinn said. "Ultimately, my message to President Bush will be that if he decides to go forward with this recommendation, I will exercise a notice of disapproval to the Congress (the governor's veto) based on the overwhelming scientific evidence."

Guinn and the state's two U.S. senators -- Democrat Harry Reid and Republican John Ensign -- met Thursday with Bush to discuss their concerns about Abraham's recommendation.