Demise of Yucca Predicted
November 24, 2008
Las Vegas Review - Journal
President-elect Barack Obama and Sen. Harry Reid have had several
discussions about the Yucca Mountain Project since the election, with Reid
saying this week the nuclear waste burial plan will "bleed real hard" before
being halted.
Reid said the most recent conversation, covering the waste repository
program and other issues, took place Tuesday.
He declined to give details, but hinted that the plan to bury 77,000
tons of highly radioactive material in Nevada could die a slow and painful
death.
"Yucca Mountain is history, OK?" Reid said in an interview Wednesday.
"Just watch, we'll see what happens real soon, just watch. You will see it
bleed real hard in the next year."
Supporters and critics of the proposed Nevada nuclear waste repository
have been waiting for signals as to how Obama might proceed on nuclear waste
issues.
One of the tea leaves is Reid, the Senate majority leader and the
leading congressional opponent of the Yucca project that is unpopular among
many Nevadans and most of the state's elected leaders.
Other signals, observers say, will be who Obama selects to run the
Department of Energy and carry out his policies, and how much money he
proposes to spend on the project in the coming year.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission started in September to review an
8,600-page DOE application for a repository construction license.
It has not been made clear what the ramifications might be if that
process is stopped in its tracks, for instance whether legislation might be
needed to set a new course, and what would become of more than $20 billion
set aside so far for construction.
During the presidential campaign that included a key early caucus in
Nevada, Obama declared the selection of Yucca Mountain for long- term waste
storage "has failed." He said nuclear waste should continue to be kept at
reactor sites while policy-makers come up with a Plan B.
Critics say the geology of the mountain ridge 100 miles northwest of
Las Vegas is unsuitable for safe storage of nuclear waste for periods that
would stretch beyond tens of thousands of years.
Further, they say shipping the radioactive material to Nevada would
invite accidents and possible attacks.
But others contend the Department of Energy strategy to place waste in
corrosion-resistant containers within Yucca Mountain tunnels will meet
federal safety standards for up to 1 million years.
As for transportation, DOE and nuclear industry officials point to a
safety record for nuclear shipments going back 30 years.