Yucca Mountain—Unanswered Questions, Uncertain Future? By Irene L. Navis, AICP Planning Manager Clark County Nuclear Waste Oversight Program Clark County residents have always cast a skeptical eye toward the federal government’s plans to store high level radioactive wast e and spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain. In support of that skepticism and deep, consistent public concern, the Clark County Board of Commissioners has been on record as opposed to the project since at least 1985, two years before the “Screw Nevada” bill (Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments of 1987) became the law which seemed to seal Nevada’s fate on this project. Twenty years after the first community surveys were conducted, opposition to the project in Clark County remains steadfast, at around 75%. Business owners and tourists have also weighed in, with similar results. Clark County research indicates a potential for impacts to our tourism-based economy, to property values, and to our ability to effectively provide government services, especially in public safety. Since December 1987 when Yucca Mountain was singled out as the only place the federal government would continue to study as a possible place to store the most dangerous of radioactive materials, the U.S. Department of Energy, the department tasked with managing this project, has received billions of dollars from the federal Nuclear Waste Fund to manage this project. Unfortunately, despite the pointing out of serious concerns and potentially fatal project flaws by oversight agencies such as the State of Nevada, the General Accountability Office, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, and others, the DOE just keeps moving forward. A concerned and confused public has watched as DOE keeps going on a project that has been fraught with errors, rework, questionable science and technical studies, and numerous missed deadlines. After twenty years of progress, the Yucca Mountain project is now twenty years behind its original schedule, and could be close to 30 years behind if the project continues forward toward completion. Since 2001, the importance of the Yucca Mountain Project has been linked to everything from national security to energy stability to global warming. Lately, there’s been a lot of talk on the national front and within the energy industry about how Yucca is a key factor in accomplishing a “nuclear renaissance.” Yucca is now linked to the success of the Bush Administration’s “Global Nuclear Energy Partnership” for which there are 21 international partners waiting for our government to begin reprocessing of spent fuel. What does that mean for Yucca in the long term? The DOE has already talked about expanding capacity at Yucca if a second repository site is not identified as the federal law requires. The DOE has publicly acknowledged that Yucca would be fully committed within two years of its opening, with the current inventory of waste materials waiting to be emplaced. Proponents of the project tell the public that Yucca provides a “safe, centralized” location for nuclear waste, as it would consolidate waste from all current locations in a “remote, uninhabited area.” The truth is, it does no such thing. A nuclear renaissance would mean production would continue at most of the existing commercial reactor sites, in addition to any new ones that are constructed. Waste (especially that already stored in dry casks) would remain on site indefinitely. Not only does Yucca not solve the nation’s current problem, but it certainly isn’t an adequate solution to any future nuclear power expansion and international recycling program. The DOE has publicly recognized the changing nature of the need for Yucca, as well as the need to re-think how and by whom the project should be managed. Read the rest by subscribing to NWW! © 2008 joyce communications