NY AG Sues Over Nuclear Waste Storage

White Plains, NY – New York is joining Connecticut and Vermont in filing suit against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for it's decision to allow the use of nuclear power facilities as storage sites for nuclear waste.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the suit, and was highly critical of the NRC's new "final rule."

Schneiderman says he filed a petition demanding the NRC conduct a full environmental impact study before it issues a final rule on this issue.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said the NRC did numerous studies supporting the safety of such storage. The lawsuit doesn't suggest a solution to the issue.

The Ginna Nuclear Power plant is about 20 miles northeast of Rochester in Wayne County.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled in December that toxic nuclear waste could be stored in pools or dry casks at the nation's 100-plus nuclear sites for 60 years after a reactor shuts down. Until then, the limit was 30 years.

NRC Spokesman Neil Sheehan said that the commission's studies found such storage to be safe.

Schneiderman says the rule, as it stands, has an effect on property values and the security of communities.

He says the policy adopted by the NRC is not responsible and says the lawsuit intends to put the pressue on the federal government to come up with a long-term solution, sooner rather than later.

He says there are around 120 reactors producing thousands of tons of nuclear waste around the country.