Is Yucca Mountain Dead?
The New Your Times reported recently that President Obama has cut off DOE funding for the Yucca Mountain project and is reportedly planning to withdraw the project’s permit application at the NRC. Yucca Mountain in Nevada had previously been identified as the most suitable location for the permanent disposal of highly radioactive waste from our nuclear power plants and other sources. Why should we care?
The federal government made a promise to the states a number of years ago to develop a national depository for radioactive waste generated at our nuclear power plants. Storage of spent fuel rods and other high level waste must now be stored at each nuclear power plant. Most facilities are prepared to store some amount of waste on-site, but few are prepared for long-term storage and several are running out of suitable space. Many state regulators and nuclear opponents cite concerns with security, potential terrorist attacks, and risks of radioactive contamination as these facilities were not designed or permitted for the long-term storage of radioactive waste.
What is the answer? In my travels, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with a number of experts, both NSPE members and others, who have been involved at some level with the site selection and preliminary design at Yucca Mountain. Everyone that I’ve talked to familiar with the issue agreed that Yucca Mountain was the ideal location for a long-term repository. The downside is that the site is located within a couple hundred miles of Las Vegas, and area residents and resort owners don’t want a facility in close proximity. Others oppose a national repository at all, feeling that each nuclear power plant and its owner should assume the long-term responsibility for the waste they generate.
Something needs to be done as our aging nuclear power plants are beginning to reach the end of their useful life and decommissioning of a number of facilities will take place over the next 10-20 years. In nearly all cases, the ultimate completion of decommissioning is to return the site to a useable form with no risk of radioactive contamination, so the waste must go somewhere. We need a national solution to the problem, whether it’s development of Yucca Mountain or some other viable alternative. My hope is that the Obama administration will indeed pursue other options. To simply ignore the issue, forcing each facility to address its own specific needs ignores a promise and commitment that the federal government made to our public health, safety, and welfare.
