Nevada lawmakers are being asked to commit $3.6 million per year for the next two years to fight a federal proposal to bury the nation's most radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
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State Agency for Nuclear Projects chief Robert Halstead says that's for the legal and administrative fight.
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Halstead told state Senate and Assembly members on Monday that he thinks Nuclear Regulatory Commission hearings on licensing the mothballed project to accept spent nuclear fuel could start before 2019.
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A commission spokesman, David McIntyre, said Tuesday that hearings won't be scheduled until Congress approves funding.
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Halstead says hearings will take at least four year and could cost the federal Energy Department nearly $1.7 billion, the NRC at least $300 million, and the state of Nevada about $50 million.
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