Update
LAS VEGAS, NV, October 13, 2004
Appeals court denies Yucca radiation request
A federal appeals court has denied a request to keep the Yucca Mountain radiation standards in place until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear the case.
With just under three months to go before the Energy Department plans to submit a license application for the planned nuclear waste dump, the court's original decision to throw out the radiation standard will take effect in a week or less.
In a one-page order issued Friday, the court denied the request by the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's lobbying arm, but gave no explanation of its decision.
Nevada officials say that without a radiation standard any application the department would submit this year would be worthless because all the science and data in it would be based on a protection standard that no longer exists.
US to Proceed on Nevada Waste Site Despite Ruling
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration will proceed with a plan to build a nuclear waste site in Nevada this year despite a court decision ordering it to prevent radiation leaks for more than 10,000 years, a senior Energy Department official said on Tuesday. The administrations record has not been a good one for the environment.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed Congress' 2002 endorsement of the plan to build a massive underground storage depot in the desert, beneath Yucca Mountain about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The construction of the underground storage system - may eventually cost up to $60 billion.
Critics of the project, including Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid of Nevada, and Nevada lawmakers oppose plans for the waste site, slated to open in 2010, saying storing 77,000 tons there would turn the state into a toxic waste dump.
The administration said, however, that it does not intend to slow down.
"We are still on track toward submitting a license application in December of this year, and opening the repository and beginning waste acceptance in 2010," Deputy Energy Secretary Kyle McSlarrow told a Senate Energy Committee hearing on nuclear energy.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last week rejected Nevada's attempt to block the plan to store 77,000 tons (70,000 metric tons) of waste on constitutional grounds. And get this, While 31 states have nuclear power plants, Nevada does not, and the state sued to prevent Yucca Mountain from becoming a repository.
However, the court also said the administration wrongly ignored a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences to ensure safety from leaks for well beyond 10,000 years.
Radioactive releases could peak in 300,000 years and the administration must assure safeguards on that scale, the court found. If Yucca Mountain is to comply with the law, the entire project must be rethought or redesigned with that in mind.
Alternatively, the law has to be changed.
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With total disregard for the safety of our descendants on, and, the health of this planet, Republican Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico, a long-time nuclear industry proponent, said assuring safety over that timeframe is "impossible," and that the industry will "stand or fall" on how the court's objection is addressed.
And, this is an election year, Nevada is a swing state with voters who definitely do not approve of nuclear waste in their back yard and with legislators who constantly work against it. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., has stoked the political fires by denouncing the Yucca Mountain project, which the Bush administration supports.
The Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's lobbying arm, said the administration can either rewrite its plan to extend the radiation compliance period beyond 10,000 years or Congress can enact legislation allowing the administration to deviate from the recommendations.
While the aforementioned court ruling generally sided with the administration, its repudiation of the inadequate radiation standards has brought criticism for Bush – as his 2000 campaign promised that "science, not politics" would drive his Yucca Mountain policy. In the words of the Review-Journal’s Sebelius:
"We can, though, single out Bush for special Yucca bashing, because he promised to wait until sound science was finished before deciding to designate Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear dump or not. And then, before 'sound science' was finished, Bush acted anyway. That's a broken promise, and it's something for which the Bush campaign will have to answer."
If voters don’t like that answer, Nevada – which has backed the winner in the last six presidential elections - could fall into Kerry’s column.
Spent fuel from the nation's nuclear plants is piling up - there are over 50,000 tons of it stored at over 100 interim locations in 39 states within 75 miles of 161 million people. Instead of trying to find places to store these toxic-for-thousands-of-years nuclear waste items, its time to find alternative energy that does not produce toxic waste.
