Report fuels battle over nation’s nuclear waste Senator vows to derail plan to use Nevada desert for storage 

Miguel Llanos MSNBC 22aug01

Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nev., is the only site being considered for long-term storage of the nation's nuclear waste.

The Energy Department has signed off on using Nevada’s Yucca Mountain to store nuclear waste from across the nation, but the state’s senior lawmaker — who happens to be the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate — says killing the project is his top priority.

‘What the DOE has also failed to admit or address are the dangers 
inherent in shipping more than 70,000 tons of nuclear waste 
through our nation’s cities, towns, and communities.’ 
— SEN. HARRY REID, D-NEV.

In a report released Tuesday, the Energy Department gave a favorable safety assessment for building a dump deep beneath Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Spent fuel from the nation’s 103 nuclear power plants would be stored there, much of it remaining radioactive for thousands of years.

But Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, a Democrat who now wields more clout as the new Senate assistant majority leader, vowed to stop the project.

“The Department of Energy has long since made up its mind that it is willing to manipulate the science and cast aside any veil of objectivity in their zealous pursuit of shipping deadly radioactive waste through America’s heartland to Nevada,” Reid said in a statement. “What the DOE has also failed to admit or address are the dangers inherent in shipping more than 70,000 tons of nuclear waste through our nation’s cities, towns, and communities.”

Nuclear power plants now store their waste on-site, either in pools or containers, but those are filling up fast and pose their own set of safety issues. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

A 1987 federal law essentially designated Yucca the nation’s only potential long-term burial option, but the site has not formally been approved. Some $8 billion has been spent since then evaluating the mountain, and a tunnel has already been dug to move the waste deep below ground.

The evaluation issued Tuesday found that radiation levels from storing nuclear waste at Yucca would fall well below limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Nuclear power proponents welcomed the report as a sign the Bush administration would eventually endorse Yucca as the nation’s nuclear storage site.

The report is “the most significant milestone accomplished to date in the federal government’s effort to develop a geological disposal facility,” said Joe Colvin, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute. “This project is already 12 years behind schedule. And after nearly 20 years of in-depth scientific investigation of every environmental facet of Yucca Mountain, there is no reason for further delay.”

STEPS TO A DECISION

EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman announced in June new standards for residents who live near the Nevada desert site. She said the EPA will limit overall radiation exposure for citizens living near Yucca Mountain to 15 millirem per year. That level is roughly double the exposure from naturally occurring radioactive materials in brick houses, she said.

Assuming that a storage site at Yucca would last for 10,000 years, the DOE study pegs radiation exposure at less than 1 millirem of radiation per year.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham pledged to make a decision on the facility “based on sound science.”

Abraham also announced that the public comment period for Yucca has been extended through Sept. 20 and that three new public hearings before Yucca-area residents had been scheduled.

Naturally occurring radioactive material.

Spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste contain short- and long-lived radionuclides. Most radionuclides in the repository will decay to insignificant levels within several hundred years. Some radionuclides will take many thousands of years to decay to non-threatening levels.

The wastes are currently stored at commercial nuclear power plants and Department of Energy facilities throughout the United States. Spent nuclear fuel is stored in specially designed water-filled pools and above-ground dry storage facilities. However, storage pools are reaching capacity at some nuclear power plants.

The Energy Department's current plan is to monitor the repository for at least 50 years once the last waste package has been disposed. After the monitoring phase, DOE plans to seal the tunnels and post a guard at the gate for as long as necessary.

In a bow to Reid, the Democratic-led Senate Appropriations Committee in July slashed $125 million from Yucca Mountain’s development budget.

Nevada’s other senator, Republican John Ensign, supports Reid’s position, which reflects the view of most Nevadans, opinion polls show.

Even though Yucca Mountain doesn't have a green light for nuclear waste storage, the federal government has built this tunnel and rail line to carry waste deep below ground.

REID’S STRATEGY

Abraham is expected to send his recommendation to President Bush by the end of the year.

If Abraham recommends Yucca, Nevada’s legislature and governor have said they would oppose the recommendation, sending the issue to the Senate. A simple majority there is required to override Nevada.

The last time a Yucca vote went before senators was in February 2000. A bill designating Yucca as the nation’s interim site for nuclear waste passed but, Reid got enough support — 33 senators — to make sure that then President Clinton could veto the Republican bill.

A spokeswoman for Reid said that even before any new vote he’d try to derail the project.

Reid sits on a committee that oversees the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Tessa Hafen noted, and he might soon hold hearings to look into the safety of “dry cask containers” — the nuclear industry’s preferred method for shipping waste.

The basics of nuclear waste

Types of nuclear waste
Spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors. Once a year, a third of the nuclear fuel is replaced with new fuel. This used fuel is called spent nuclear fuel and is highly radioactive.
High-level radioactive waste from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.
Transuranic radioactive waste, resulting mainly from manufacture of nuclear weapons.
Uranium mill tailings from the mining, milling of uranium ore.
Low-level radioactive waste, generally in the form of radioactively contaminated industrial or research waste.
Naturally occurring radioactive material.

Radioactive life of waste
Spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste contain short- and long-lived radionuclides. Most radionuclides in the repository will decay to insignificant levels within several hundred years. Some radionuclides will take many thousands of years to decay to nonthreatening levels.

Where waste is now
The wastes are currently stored at commercial nuclear power plants and Department of Energy facilities throughout the United States. Spent nuclear fuel is stored in specially designed water-filled pools and above-ground dry storage facilities. However, storage pools are reaching capacity at some nuclear power plants.

What happens when repository closes
The Energy Department's current plan is to monitor the repository for at least 50 years once the last waste package has been disposed. After the monitoring phase, DOE plans to seal the tunnels and post a guard at the gate for as long as necessary.

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