Yucca Mountain—The Issue Shifts Back To Congress
By: Robert R. Loux, Executive Director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects Nuclear Waste Project Office
On July 9 the Court of Appeals ruled that the federal radiation standards for Yucca Mountain-the Nevada location the Energy Department picked to bury the nation's nuclear waste-were too lax. Congress had told the Environmental Protection Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1992 to prescribe standards in accord with the recommendations of the National Academy of Science. Both agencies ignored the Academy's 1995 recommendation on this point. The Court has now told them to return to the Academy's tighter standard.
The problem for DOE is that the project probably can't meet the Academy's standard. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham seems to agree the project is now headed up a blind alley-he says he may have to go to Congress to get the Court's ruling reversed.
What the Court did specifically was to throw out an NRC standard that required DOE to show that the radiation leakage from the waste dump will be limited for 10,000 years. That sounds like a long time, but it is not really the precise duration that is at issue. The National Academy said the important thing was that the radiation standard covers "the time when the greatest risk occurs."
DOE managed, by making extremely optimistic assumptions about the corrosion resistance of their "miracle metal" waste package, to produce computer simulation model projections that put off the maximum impact after the 10,000 year point. They then argued, in effect, that nothing mattered but the waste packages-that the site geology didn't really come into it.
And NRC was going along with this logic. Under the NRC standard it didn't matter that the radiation dose exceeded the standard after the packages failed-which it did. DOE did not have to confront the consequences of radioactive leakage into ground water, which then served as a conveyer belt away from the site and toward populated areas. It was all pretty blatant.
Nevada never bought the "miracle metal" story. As the site combines rainwater, oxygen, complex minerals, and heat-which together spell corrosion-Nevada's experts believe the packages will corrode and leak rapidly. Nevada-funded corrosion research at Catholic University backed this up.
Perhaps more importantly, the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, a federal scientific agency which provides independent oversight over the DOE waste program, didn't buy DOE's story, either. Last November the unanimous Board, half of whose members were appointed by President George W. Bush, wrote DOE that they believed "all the conditions necessary to initiate localized corrosion of the waste packages will likely be present" and that "widespread corrosion" was likely before about the 1,000 year point "with possible release of radionuclides." It didn't seem to have much effect-DOE is not good at listening. And the "independent" NRC is as anxious to get the site approved as DOE is.
Nevada has complained for years that the site's geology is bad for siting a radioactive waste dump-Yucca Mountain is a basically a geologic sieve-and that it should never have been selected. We are learning more and more that it is in fact uniquely bad. Elsewhere in the world the responsible organizations aim to contain the radioactive wastes in a sound geologic medium; DOE aims only to delay the inevitable leakage. We have argued this approach to radioactive waste disposal is irresponsible because it can fail badly and soon if DOE's packages turn out to be less corrosion-resistant than advertised. But despite all this we have been stymied by DOE and NRC willingness to rely on the waste packages alone and to take a rosy view of their survival chances.
It was precisely to force attention to the geology that Nevada appealed to the Court. The Court gave us what we wanted, albeit indirectly. By striking down the arbitrary 10,000-year standard and requiring DOE to show it won't over-radiate nearby populations, the Court forced consideration of what happens when the waste packages fail, never mind when. It could come early if you believe Nevada and the NWTRB, or it could come late if you believe DOE. But no matter when it is, DOE has to demonstrate by computer simulation model that the geologic media around Yucca Mountain will be effective in keeping the waste's radioactivity from humans. The key change isn't so much the length of time as the fact that DOE and NRC will now have to evaluate the geologic adequacy of the site, something they were trying to avoid.
A couple of years ago, Energy Secretary Abraham assured Congress the Yucca Mountain project was based on "sound science." If he now appeals to Congress for laxer radiation standards than those recommended by the National Academy of Science, on the grounds that they threaten the multi-billion dollar project, Congress should tell him that public protection comes first.
Mr. Loux has been the Executive Director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects Nuclear Waste Project Office since its creation in 1983. He is responsible for the staffing, organization, and direction of the Office. Mr. Loux has worked for six Nevada governors on high-level radioactive waste management and other energy policy issues.
Mr. Loux obtained a bachelors degree in education from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1972, a master degree education administration in 1974 and has been employed by the State of Nevada since 1976. Mr. Loux's work for the State has been primarily in the energy policy arena, with emphasis on high-level radioactive waste management.