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Senate Approves Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Disposal Project

Paraphrased by Steve Waldrop
July 10, 2002

The political verdict on Yucca Mountain is in. By a vote of 60-39 the Senate voted to approve the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal project. The Senate has given the Bush administration a thumbs up to transfer 77,000 metric tons of highly radioactive materials from power plants in over 30 states to the facility in Nevada, located 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The Reagan administration first proposed the dumping site in 1982 as a central area for 20 years' worth of nuclear waste accumulated in 131 power plants nationwide. The transfer of the nuclear waste is scheduled to begin in 2010.

Senators from Nevada were disappointed and insisted the fight against the Yucca Mountain project will continue before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and in the federal courts . Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn said that his state would pursue at least five lawsuits that have been filed challenging the Yucca project.

"We have made considerable headway in convincing others that Yucca Mountain is a bad idea," Guinn said.

The Nevada lawsuits focus on a broad range of issues challenging everything from the failure of the Energy Department to develop a clear transportation plan to the Yucca engineers' use of man-made barriers to contain waste and the Environmental Protection Agency's health standard.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said that the vote "confirms the president's decision very forcefully" and clears the way for the department to prepare a license application to the NRC by 2004.

The NRC's review also is expected to be complex and lengthy, taking at least three or four years as the agency decides whether to issue a construction license and then a permit for the Yucca facility to accept waste.

The Nevada senators tried for months to convince colleagues the issue was much broader than a single state because of the thousands of shipments of highly radioactive used reactor fuel that would be sent over highways and railroads in 43 states if Yucca Mountain became a central repository.

However, more senators appeared to be concerned about finding a way to get rid of wastes at reactors in their states. Many of the senators voting for the Yucca project are from states where utilities are heavily committed to nuclear power.

Arguing in favor of the site, Senator Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M noted that Yucca Mountain has been studied for 24 years at a cost of $4.5 billion. He said that "looking for another site... is not realistic... we're not likely to find a better site next time."

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle D-S.D., gave a sharp criticism of the Yucca site complaining that there are "far too many questions", about the site's suitability to give the go ahead now.