Vol. 3, No. 8
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February 15, 2006
Nevada's Online State News Journal
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Yucca Mountain Transportation Plan Gains Significant Backing
One Of Nation's Most Respected Scientific Organization Gives Its Blessing
While conceding that the general public has a perception that the transportation of casks filled with high level nuclear waste is extremely dangerous, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the nation's most respected scientific organizations has said in a report that the waste can be conducted safely from around the country to Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada. The waste is piling up at a high rate at nuclear power plants around the country and the federal government has been attempting for more than 20-years to get an underground repository opened for waste storage.
Scientists from NAS that wrote the report said as far as they were able to tell, there would be no significant danger from containers or from possible breaches during wrecks. What they did not address is the potential for terrorist acts on the shipments. Saying the idea of dedicated trains for hauling the waste is the best solution, they said the government would not release information dealing with potential terrorism concerning the transport of the waste.
The state of Nevada has continued to question the concept of Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository, and the director of the Office of Nuclear Projects in Nevada, Bob Loux said the report from NAS contained many of the recommendations that his office had made to the Department of Energy (DOE), the federal agency responsible for Yucca Mountain. DOE has not publicly responded to the NAS report.
The report points out that shipments of high-level nuclear material have taken place for more than 40-years with a perfect safety record. "There has never been a significant release of radioactive material," the report says. One of the programs supported by DOE is the building of a 319-mile railroad from the Nevada-Utah border to Yucca. The road would travel through several counties, across public and private land, including grazing land and operating mines, and end at the proposed repository. NAS scientists indicated the road would be the safest way to get the waste to Yucca.
There has been a strong move recently to reconsider Yucca Mountain as the final answer to the disposition of the high-level waste. The President has directed that DOE begin a program to research way to reprocess the waste into a usable fuel, and in his recent State of the Union address he included money in his proposed budget for this. A number of representatives and senators have been calling for reprocessing for months, and a new voice joined the chorus just this month.
North Carolina Senator Richard Burr (R) thinks it's time to rethink the concept of simply burying the dangerous material for later generations to have to deal with. Burr is calling for continued research into reprocessing of the waste. Well over 70,000 tons of nuclear waste is on the ground in 39 states at this time, and new nuclear plants will be coming on line during the next few years according to several power companies along the east and gulf coasts. Yucca Mountain has not been designed to provide storage for as much waste as exists at this time.
In the meantime Nevada Congressman Jon Porter (R) is continuing to demand papers and information from DOE. He has scheduled a hearing for the end of the month and wants DOE to provide the draft license application for Yucca Mountain. Porter is chairman of the federal workforce and agency organization subcommittee, which has issued subpoenas for material from DOE.
He says the hearing is needed because of continued stonewalling from DOE, because more information dealing with falsified documents continues to surface, and because that application form may be sullied by current and new information made available to the committee.
Governor Kenny Guinn, among those that have opposed the creation of the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository has appointed former Assemblywoman Joan Lambert of Reno to the Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects. The agency oversees the Yucca project at the state level and has led the fight to halt the project. Lambert served on the Committee on High-Level Radioactive Waste in the assembly during her terms of office.
Guinn says, "Joan Lambert's wealth of experience including her time on the nuclear committee prepares her to make a substantial contribution to the important work of the Commission on Nuclear Projects." Lambert will complete the term of former Nevada Attorney General Brian McKay who recently resigned from the commission.
Saying she is honored by the appointment, Lambert said, "Ever since I served on the Legislature's Committee on High-Level Radioactive Waste in the 1990s, I have followed the Yucca Mountain repository project and nuclear waste issues with interest." Lambert continued, "I am very flattered to be considered for the commission."
Agency director Bob Loux said, "Lambert will be a fine addition to the board. We look forward to working with her as we continue our efforts to make sure Nevada is not used as a federal dumping ground." For more on the agency, go to http://www.gov.nv.us/nucwaste.
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