Nevada is telling the Nuclear Regulatory Commission some 1,400 people in a rural Nevada farming community could be threatened if the nation's most radioactive waste is buried in the desert northwest of Las Vegas.
In a 53-page report submitted Friday, the state derides environmental studies on the proposed Yucca Mountain repository as legally inadequate.
It says the reports don't properly address the danger to people in nearby Amargosa Valley — or the cultural and spiritual effect that building the long-mothballed repository would have on native Americans.
The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe included its objections.
Groundwater contamination is the key environmental issue for yet-to-be scheduled licensing hearings.
While some area residents oppose the nuclear dump, others want the project finally put before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a thumbs-up or thumbs-down decision.
