CARSON CITY, Nev., Aug 31, 2005 -- United Press International

 

Nevada's attorney general sent letters to attorney generals in 10 states seeking help in the fight against the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear dump.

The letter from Attorney General Brain Sandoval urges them to oppose the new radiation standards proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency. Sandoval said the new standard would set a "dangerous precedent for the relaxation of all radiation protection standards for Department of Energy sites everywhere."

The EPA set a two-tier standard for radiation in the area. For the first 10,000 years the limit is 15 millirems of radiation. That is the equivalent to a chest X-ray each year, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

After 10,000 years, the limit would increase to 350 millirems a year for up to 1 million years.

"This amounts to the least stringent radiation protection standard in the world by far," Sandoval wrote in his letter to attorneys general in Idaho, Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, and New York.

Sandoval said he chose those states because they each have a Department of Energy facility. He is asking them to write the EPA opposing the standard before the Oct. 21 deadline.

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