Statement by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Speakes on the Preliminary Radioactive Waste Repository Site Selection

The President today accepted the Secretary of Energy's report and recommendation to select three sites for the Nation's first radioactive waste repository. The sites recommended and approved are located at Yucca Mountain, NV; Deaf Smith County, TX; and Hanford, WA. These three sites were recommended from five as the Nation's first geologic repository for the permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. The Secretary's nominations were based on the environmental assessments required by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and were supported by environmental assessments evaluating on a technical basis the five sites from which the three were recommended and selected. As prescribed by law, the Secretary of Energy will further study these three sites and a recommendation to the President will be made in 1994 as to which of the three should be the final site.