Danielle Jackson

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. House of Representatives has approved President George W. Bush's decision to bury approximately 77,000 tons of used reactor fuel and other radioactive nuclear waste in volcanic rock in Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles from Las Vegas.

A 1987 law required that only Yucca Mountain was to be studied as a potential repository for nuclear waste, and the cost has been estimated at $58 billion for construction, waste shipments and the first 50 to 100 years of operation. At some point, the site will be shut-in, making the buried waste unretrievable.