01/08/08
LAS VEGAS (AP) _ The Energy Department is cutting operations and
laying off contract workers at the Nevada desert site where it
plans to build a national nuclear waste repository.

A project official declares ``the tunnel is closed'' at the Yucca Mountain project site. He says cutting down to a skeleton staff is necessary after
Congress cut funding for the Yucca project, about 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas.

But he says staffers are working on an application for a Nuclear
Regulatory Commission operating license and still plan to submit it
by June 30.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid engineered the deep congressional funding cuts. He says he feels sorry 63 Bechtel SAIC contractors are losing their jobs. But he says it's becoming more and more clear that the Energy Department plan to open the repository is in trouble.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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