The Senate ended two decades of debate over nuclear waste disposal Tuesday by voting to approve Yucca Mountain as the nation's first geological repository. The voice vote (which followed a 60-39 motion to proceed to vote on the resolution) to approve Yucca Mountain followed a 306-117 House vote in May. The votes overrode Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn's attempt to block the proposal.
The Department of Energy now must obtain a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the facility, a process that could take up to five years. No waste is expected to be moved before 2010, the earliest the site can be ready.
