LAS VEGAS, Nevada, Aug 19 (AFP) - Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry said Tuesday Nevada should not be home to a nuclear waste site under Yucca Mountain.
"As a senator, I voted against it, and as president, I will do everything in my power to ensure that your backyard doesn't become America's nuclear waste dump," Kerry said in Las Vegas.
"This is not just a Nevada issue, it's about America."
For 20 years, Washington has wanted to build a single permanent site for high-level nuclear waste that has been sitting in 131 temporary pools at US nuclear power plants for decades. The dry salt deposits under Yucca Mountain are stable places for long-term nuclear waste storage.
Much of the radioactive waste will be around in 30,000 years.
Kerry chided US President George W. Bush for signing into law the creation of the site, despite warnings from scientists about the risks of ground water contamination, the proximity of earthquake faults and the danger of shipping such waste across the United States to within a few miles of Las Vegas.
The United States "needs a president who believes in science," Kerry said.
Kerry and his running mate John Edwards voted in favor of the site, however, and "believe nuclear power can play an essential role in providing affordable energy while reducing the risk of climate change," their campaign said.
"However, key challenges such as nuclear waste disposal and plant security must be met," the statement said.
Republicans were quick to counter.
"John Kerry's vote to make Nevada the sole repository site for waste and his later flip-flop on Yucca Mountain is just another example of a candidate who tells voters what they want to hear," Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said in a statement.