Yucca Tour Won’t Include Nevada Office for Nuclear Projects Representative

The upcoming House Energy and Commerce Committee trip to Yucca Mountain will not include any representatives from the Nevada Office for Nuclear Projects. According to trip leader Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), the tour has already been filled to capacity, he said in an April 6 letter to Nevada Office for Nuclear Projects Executive Director Bob Halstead. Halstead had offered to send a geologist from the Nevada office to join the tour and point out some technical faults with the site, but Shimkus declined to add him to the tour. “I am grateful for your generous offer of Mr. Frishman’s time; however, DOE’s current itinerary for the tour is fully subscribed,” Shimkus said in the letter. “Please contact my office to arrange a phone call or a meeting the next time you are in Washington, DC. I appreciate your offer of assistance and look forward to working with you as we move forward on the project.” Shimkus, along with other House lawmakers, plans to tour the Yucca Mountain site this Thursday. Shimkus hopes the tour will give Yucca Mountain a renewed momentum and publicity to get the project moving forward, he said in a statement last week.