By Stephen Power
Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL404 words
9 March 201018:20Dow Jones News ServiceDJEnglish
(c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The Obama administration's decision to terminate a proposed nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., "does not seem to rest on factual findings" and is likely to complicate efforts to find a solution for managing nuclear waste "for years to come," a federal regulator said Tuesday.
The comments by Dale Klein--a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission --represent an unusual public rebuke to the Obama administration from a commission whose members tend to refrain from publicly weighing in on matters before them. The NRC is weighing a request by the Obama administration to withdraw a license application in favor of the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. That application was submitted by the George W. Bush administration in 2008, over the fierce objections of Nevada lawmakers--most prominently, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.).
(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal Web site, WSJ.com.)
Klein's comments are of limited significance because he has announced plans to step down from the commission once the U.S. Senate confirms his successor. But his remarks could give ammunition to Republicans in Congress who support the proposed repository.
"In my personal view ... I have found the handling of this matter from a national policy perspective ... unfortunate," Klein said in a speech before a conference of nuclear industry officials in Rockville, Md. "The administration's handling of the matter has already led to the filing of a number of lawsuits and clouded the path forward in a number of significant ways for years to come ... In my opinion, the administration's stated rationale for changing course does not seem to rest on factual findings and thus does not bolster the credibility of our government to handle this matter competently."
Klein was appointed to the NRC in 2006 by then-President George W. Bush and served as its chairman for several years.
Spokespersons at the White House and Department of Energy didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The administration has said it believes there are better options for disposing of nuclear waste than Yucca. It has cited improvements in scientists' understanding of some technical issues surrounding nuclear-waste disposal since the 1980s, when the Yucca was initially identified as a possible repository site. [ 03-09-10 1920ET ]
CRESP Newstories and Links related to risk-based cleanup of the nation’s nuclear weapons production facility waste sites and cost-effective, risk-based management of potential future nuclear sites and wastes. CRESP seeks to improve the scientific and technical basis for environmental management decisions by the Department of Energy (DOE) and by fostering public participation in that search.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Yucca Mountain foe: Work paid off: DOE move surprises former state official
By Keith Rogers, Las Vegas Review-Journal
McClatchy-Tribune Regional News591 words March 9, 2010
Las Vegas Review-Journal (MCT)
KRTLVEnglish
Distributed by McClatchy - Tribune Information Services
Mar. 9--The man who led Nevada's charge against the Yucca Mountain Project for more than 20 years says he's surprised that the Department of Energy took action on its own to withdraw its license request to build a nuclear waste repository in the ridge, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
"I have to admit that side of it is kind of a surprise," Bob Loux, former executive director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects, said after DOE filed a motion last week to withdraw its construction application from a nuclear licensing board.
"I could see DOE getting defeated in the licensing proceedings given the number of contentions that Nevada submitted and were accepted. I never thought they'd come from a licensing proceeding with a license."
After working for the state for 32 years, including 23 at the helm of the Nuclear Projects Agency, Loux resigned in September 2008 amid controversy over giving himself and his staff unauthorized pay raises.
He later offered to pay the state more than $29,000 in salary overpayments in exchange for the withdrawal of an ethics complaint against him, but the Ethics Commission rejected the proposal.
Then in March 2009, the Ethics Commission decided in a 3-2 vote to drop the charges, ruling that he didn't break state ethics laws because the governor, not the Legislature, determines his salary and those of his staff. Since then, Loux said, he has been working on a book and playing golf.
In a telephone interview Thursday, Loux said he is "gratified to know that the work we've done over the years has really paid off."
"There is a real lessen for people facing large government projects," he said. "Commitment will pay off in the end, and you really can fight city hall."
Though the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Construction Authorization Board has not decided yet on accepting DOE's motion to withdraw the license application , Loux noted that the Yucca Mountain Project is similar to two other multibillion-dollar government projects that were canceled. Congress terminated the Clinch River Breeder Reactor in Tennessee in 1983 and the Superconducting Super Collider in Texas in 1993.
"Once they head down the path of no funding, they never recover," Loux said.
He said he thinks that nuclear regulators will accept DOE's motion to kill the Yucca Mountain Project and that the federal government, with the help of the Obama administration's commission, will look outside Nevada to solve the nation's nuclear waste disposal problem.
"There is no reason to believe there are any more suitable sites in Nevada. This is the third-most earthquake-prone state," Loux said.
He said there were too many obstacles with at Yucca Mountain. Besides earthquake faults and volcanic activity, there were problems with transportation such as securing water rights to build a railroad from Caliente to the mountain and potential problems with decaying waste seeping into the water table.
Finding another nuclear waste site and gaining acceptance in another state is going to be difficult.
"You may experience a lot of these things where ever you go," he said. "Unless everybody agrees the site is good ... you're just being a guinea pig for the nuclear industry."Copyright (c) 2010, Las Vegas Review-Journal
McClatchy-Tribune Regional News591 words March 9, 2010
Las Vegas Review-Journal (MCT)
KRTLVEnglish
Distributed by McClatchy - Tribune Information Services
Mar. 9--The man who led Nevada's charge against the Yucca Mountain Project for more than 20 years says he's surprised that the Department of Energy took action on its own to withdraw its license request to build a nuclear waste repository in the ridge, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
"I have to admit that side of it is kind of a surprise," Bob Loux, former executive director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects, said after DOE filed a motion last week to withdraw its construction application from a nuclear licensing board.
"I could see DOE getting defeated in the licensing proceedings given the number of contentions that Nevada submitted and were accepted. I never thought they'd come from a licensing proceeding with a license."
After working for the state for 32 years, including 23 at the helm of the Nuclear Projects Agency, Loux resigned in September 2008 amid controversy over giving himself and his staff unauthorized pay raises.
He later offered to pay the state more than $29,000 in salary overpayments in exchange for the withdrawal of an ethics complaint against him, but the Ethics Commission rejected the proposal.
Then in March 2009, the Ethics Commission decided in a 3-2 vote to drop the charges, ruling that he didn't break state ethics laws because the governor, not the Legislature, determines his salary and those of his staff. Since then, Loux said, he has been working on a book and playing golf.
In a telephone interview Thursday, Loux said he is "gratified to know that the work we've done over the years has really paid off."
"There is a real lessen for people facing large government projects," he said. "Commitment will pay off in the end, and you really can fight city hall."
Though the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Construction Authorization Board has not decided yet on accepting DOE's motion to withdraw the license application , Loux noted that the Yucca Mountain Project is similar to two other multibillion-dollar government projects that were canceled. Congress terminated the Clinch River Breeder Reactor in Tennessee in 1983 and the Superconducting Super Collider in Texas in 1993.
"Once they head down the path of no funding, they never recover," Loux said.
He said he thinks that nuclear regulators will accept DOE's motion to kill the Yucca Mountain Project and that the federal government, with the help of the Obama administration's commission, will look outside Nevada to solve the nation's nuclear waste disposal problem.
"There is no reason to believe there are any more suitable sites in Nevada. This is the third-most earthquake-prone state," Loux said.
He said there were too many obstacles with at Yucca Mountain. Besides earthquake faults and volcanic activity, there were problems with transportation such as securing water rights to build a railroad from Caliente to the mountain and potential problems with decaying waste seeping into the water table.
Finding another nuclear waste site and gaining acceptance in another state is going to be difficult.
"You may experience a lot of these things where ever you go," he said. "Unless everybody agrees the site is good ... you're just being a guinea pig for the nuclear industry."Copyright (c) 2010, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future
538 words
9 March 2010
Federal Register10791Vol. 75, No. 045English(c) 2010 Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. All rights reserved
SUMMARY: This notice announces an open meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future (the Commission). The Commission was organized pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 94-463, 86 Stat. 770) (the Act). The Act requires that agencies publish these notices in the Federal Register . The Charter of the Commission can be found at http://www.energy.gov/news/documents/BRC_Charter.pdf.
DATES: Thursday, March 25, 2010, 1 p.m.-5 p.m.; Friday, March 26, 2010, 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
ADDRESSES: Willard Intercontinental, 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20004, (202) 628-9100.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Timothy A. Frazier, Designated Federal Officer, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585; telephone (202) 586-4243 or facsimile (202) 586-0544; e-mail CommissionDFO @nuclear.energy.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The President directed that the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future (the Commission) be established to conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. The Commission will provide advice and make recommendations on issues including alternatives for the storage, processing, and disposal of civilian and defense spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste.
The Commission is composed of individuals of diverse backgrounds selected for their technical expertise and experience, established records of distinguished professional and pubic service, and their knowledge of issues pertaining to nuclear energy.
Purpose of the Meeting: Inform the Commission members about the history and current status of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste disposal in the United States and projections of disposal needs in the future.
Tentative Agenda: The initial meeting is expected to include presentations on the history of efforts to dispose of civilian light-water reactor spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and defense high-level waste (HLW) in the United States. Presentations are also expected that will provide the status of the SNF and HLW (quantities and locations), projected generation rates for SNF associated with new nuclear plants, and projected quantities of defense HLW.
Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public. Individuals and representatives of organizations who would like to offer comments and suggestions may do so at the end of the meeting on Friday, March 26, 2010. Approximately 15 minutes will be reserved for public comments. Time allotted per speaker will depend on the number who wish to speak but will not exceed 5 minutes. The Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Those not able to attend the meeting or have insufficient time to address the committee are invited to send a written statement to Timothy A. Frazier, U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, or e-mail CommissionDFO@nuclear.energy.gov.
Minutes: The minutes of the meeting will be available by contacting Mr. Frazier. He may be reached at the postal address or email address above.
Issued in Washington, DC on March 3, 2010.Rachel Samuel,Deputy Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-4987 Filed 3-8-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-PDocument FREG000020100309e63900017
9 March 2010
Federal Register10791Vol. 75, No. 045English(c) 2010 Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. All rights reserved
SUMMARY: This notice announces an open meeting of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future (the Commission). The Commission was organized pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 94-463, 86 Stat. 770) (the Act). The Act requires that agencies publish these notices in the Federal Register . The Charter of the Commission can be found at http://www.energy.gov/news/documents/BRC_Charter.pdf.
DATES: Thursday, March 25, 2010, 1 p.m.-5 p.m.; Friday, March 26, 2010, 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m.
ADDRESSES: Willard Intercontinental, 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20004, (202) 628-9100.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Timothy A. Frazier, Designated Federal Officer, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585; telephone (202) 586-4243 or facsimile (202) 586-0544; e-mail CommissionDFO @nuclear.energy.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: The President directed that the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future (the Commission) be established to conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. The Commission will provide advice and make recommendations on issues including alternatives for the storage, processing, and disposal of civilian and defense spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste.
The Commission is composed of individuals of diverse backgrounds selected for their technical expertise and experience, established records of distinguished professional and pubic service, and their knowledge of issues pertaining to nuclear energy.
Purpose of the Meeting: Inform the Commission members about the history and current status of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste disposal in the United States and projections of disposal needs in the future.
Tentative Agenda: The initial meeting is expected to include presentations on the history of efforts to dispose of civilian light-water reactor spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and defense high-level waste (HLW) in the United States. Presentations are also expected that will provide the status of the SNF and HLW (quantities and locations), projected generation rates for SNF associated with new nuclear plants, and projected quantities of defense HLW.
Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public. Individuals and representatives of organizations who would like to offer comments and suggestions may do so at the end of the meeting on Friday, March 26, 2010. Approximately 15 minutes will be reserved for public comments. Time allotted per speaker will depend on the number who wish to speak but will not exceed 5 minutes. The Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Those not able to attend the meeting or have insufficient time to address the committee are invited to send a written statement to Timothy A. Frazier, U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, or e-mail CommissionDFO@nuclear.energy.gov.
Minutes: The minutes of the meeting will be available by contacting Mr. Frazier. He may be reached at the postal address or email address above.
Issued in Washington, DC on March 3, 2010.Rachel Samuel,Deputy Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-4987 Filed 3-8-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-PDocument FREG000020100309e63900017
Thank Reid for death of Yucca Clout as majority leader was the difference From Our Readers
Thank Reid for death of Yucca Clout as majority leader was the difference From Our Readers
Richard Bryan 508 words
7 March 2010The Las Vegas Review-Journal
To the editor:For more than a quarter of a century, Nevadans have been fighting the ill-conceived nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. The nuclear energy lobby and its supporters repeatedly told Nevadans to give up the fight because the dump is "inevitable."
But Nevada hung tough, and recently we received the news that the great majority of Nevadans had long waited to hear - the federal government is abandoning the Yucca Mountain Project. The president's new budget contains no funding for further development, and last week the Department of Energy filed a motion to withdraw its application to license Yucca Mountain. To be sure - we will need to be vigilant and follow through - but the end is in sight.
Many Nevadans - Republicans and Democrats alike - have played key roles in the fight against Yucca. As a newly elected governor in the 1980s, and with my Republican Attorney General, Brian McKay, by my side, we began the fight. It was Sen. Harry Reid, however, as the majority leader in the U.S. Senate, who persuaded President Obama to eliminate funding for Yucca Mountain and abandon the project. He deserves the credit for ultimately driving a silver stake into the heart of the project.
There are many Nevadans who do not support all of Sen. Reid's legislative proposals. As his friend for more than 40 years and his former colleague in the U.S. Senate for a decade, I would be among them. As the election season heats up, I hear some Nevadans asking what Sen. Reid has done for Nevada. Some wonder what Nevada gains because of Sen. Reid's role as majority leader.
Well, Yucca Mountain is a classic case in point. It does not denigrate the role of our congressional delegation and others who have been part of the fight for decades to point out that the power Sen. Reid wields as the majority leader was the key.
Having escaped the nuclear bullet on Yucca, I am now hearing a troubling new proposal: Let's be the host state for nuclear reprocessing. Embracing reprocessing is like jumping out of the nuclear frying pan and into the fire. Our concerns about transportation-related accidents or terrorist activities apply to shipment of high-level waste to Nevada for reprocessing as well. At the end of the reprocessing cycle, there is still high-level nuclear waste. If it's already here in our state, the slippery slope effect would inevitably lead to the argument, "Well, if Nevada accepts some nuclear waste shipments to the state and is prepared to store some nuclear waste, doesn't it make sense for Nevada to take it all?"
We need to be careful what we ask for: We might get it.
Richard H. Bryan
Las Vegas
Richard Bryan 508 words
7 March 2010The Las Vegas Review-Journal
To the editor:For more than a quarter of a century, Nevadans have been fighting the ill-conceived nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. The nuclear energy lobby and its supporters repeatedly told Nevadans to give up the fight because the dump is "inevitable."
But Nevada hung tough, and recently we received the news that the great majority of Nevadans had long waited to hear - the federal government is abandoning the Yucca Mountain Project. The president's new budget contains no funding for further development, and last week the Department of Energy filed a motion to withdraw its application to license Yucca Mountain. To be sure - we will need to be vigilant and follow through - but the end is in sight.
Many Nevadans - Republicans and Democrats alike - have played key roles in the fight against Yucca. As a newly elected governor in the 1980s, and with my Republican Attorney General, Brian McKay, by my side, we began the fight. It was Sen. Harry Reid, however, as the majority leader in the U.S. Senate, who persuaded President Obama to eliminate funding for Yucca Mountain and abandon the project. He deserves the credit for ultimately driving a silver stake into the heart of the project.
There are many Nevadans who do not support all of Sen. Reid's legislative proposals. As his friend for more than 40 years and his former colleague in the U.S. Senate for a decade, I would be among them. As the election season heats up, I hear some Nevadans asking what Sen. Reid has done for Nevada. Some wonder what Nevada gains because of Sen. Reid's role as majority leader.
Well, Yucca Mountain is a classic case in point. It does not denigrate the role of our congressional delegation and others who have been part of the fight for decades to point out that the power Sen. Reid wields as the majority leader was the key.
Having escaped the nuclear bullet on Yucca, I am now hearing a troubling new proposal: Let's be the host state for nuclear reprocessing. Embracing reprocessing is like jumping out of the nuclear frying pan and into the fire. Our concerns about transportation-related accidents or terrorist activities apply to shipment of high-level waste to Nevada for reprocessing as well. At the end of the reprocessing cycle, there is still high-level nuclear waste. If it's already here in our state, the slippery slope effect would inevitably lead to the argument, "Well, if Nevada accepts some nuclear waste shipments to the state and is prepared to store some nuclear waste, doesn't it make sense for Nevada to take it all?"
We need to be careful what we ask for: We might get it.
Richard H. Bryan
Las Vegas
Yucca abandonment panned
Steve Tetreault
553 words
5 March 2010The Las Vegas Review-JournalLVGS2BEnglish© 2010 The Las Vegas Review-Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All Rights Reserved.
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - Energy Secretary Steven Chu came under more criticism Thursday for moving to terminate work at Yucca Mountain, but he said the government was "pouring good money after bad" by pursuing what he called an outdated nuclear waste project.
At a Senate hearing, Chu got his latest earful from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. She demanded to know "who was consulted in making the decision that Yucca Mountain was not viable."
"You say that Yucca Mountain is not a workable option, but what seems to be missing is why," she told Chu, asking him repeatedly what science was used to back up the Obama administration's decision to end plans for the underground waste repository.
Murray said billions of dollars have been spent at the Hanford nuclear reservation in her state to clean up and begin packaging liquid nuclear waste for eventual disposal at the proposed Yucca site, but no consideration was given to residents there and other places where highly radioactive waste awaits removal.
"This is really disturbing to me," Murray said. "This leaves everybody just in complete limbo after 30 years of working on this."
Chu was at the hearing to discuss the DOE budget, a day after department attorneys filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a move to withdraw a construction application for the waste site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
On Wednesday, Chu faced similar criticism from several House members at a science hearing.
Most of the Capitol Hill complaints have come from Republicans. Murray became the first Senate Democrat to challenge the president and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., an engineer of the administration's policy.
Despite the scattered criticism, no groundswell has risen to reverse the decision to scrap Yucca and put future policy in the hands of a panel that begins work this month.For instance, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said Thursday that he opposed shutting down the Nevada repository effort, but the Obama administration overall has made strides by supporting new loan guarantees for reactors and making quality appointments to federal boards dealing with nuclear energy.
It could not be learned whether Murray was taking her frustration to Reid, or giving him a heads-up that she was going to air her criticism.
Reid understands that "people need to do what they need to do for their home states," said his spokesman, Jon Summers. On the other hand, everyone knows where Reid stands on Yucca Mountain, and "the dump is not going to be built, period."
Previous administrations pressed on with Yucca Mountain, adapting the program when it encountered technical challenges. Chu told Murray that President Barack Obama wants a fresh start.
For instance, he said, when Yucca Mountain was found to have more fractures than expected, which might enable moisture to work its way into waste tunnels, managers came up with a fix that was a "multi-, multibillion-dollar titanium shield that's installed under the ground."
"As these things go on, you are beginning to think, 'Are you pouring good money after bad?' " he said. "I don't believe science is willing to say that Yucca Mountain is the ideal site given what we know today and what we believe we can develop in the next 50 years."
Steve Tetreault
553 words
5 March 2010The Las Vegas Review-JournalLVGS2BEnglish© 2010 The Las Vegas Review-Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All Rights Reserved.
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - Energy Secretary Steven Chu came under more criticism Thursday for moving to terminate work at Yucca Mountain, but he said the government was "pouring good money after bad" by pursuing what he called an outdated nuclear waste project.
At a Senate hearing, Chu got his latest earful from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. She demanded to know "who was consulted in making the decision that Yucca Mountain was not viable."
"You say that Yucca Mountain is not a workable option, but what seems to be missing is why," she told Chu, asking him repeatedly what science was used to back up the Obama administration's decision to end plans for the underground waste repository.
Murray said billions of dollars have been spent at the Hanford nuclear reservation in her state to clean up and begin packaging liquid nuclear waste for eventual disposal at the proposed Yucca site, but no consideration was given to residents there and other places where highly radioactive waste awaits removal.
"This is really disturbing to me," Murray said. "This leaves everybody just in complete limbo after 30 years of working on this."
Chu was at the hearing to discuss the DOE budget, a day after department attorneys filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a move to withdraw a construction application for the waste site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
On Wednesday, Chu faced similar criticism from several House members at a science hearing.
Most of the Capitol Hill complaints have come from Republicans. Murray became the first Senate Democrat to challenge the president and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., an engineer of the administration's policy.
Despite the scattered criticism, no groundswell has risen to reverse the decision to scrap Yucca and put future policy in the hands of a panel that begins work this month.For instance, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said Thursday that he opposed shutting down the Nevada repository effort, but the Obama administration overall has made strides by supporting new loan guarantees for reactors and making quality appointments to federal boards dealing with nuclear energy.
It could not be learned whether Murray was taking her frustration to Reid, or giving him a heads-up that she was going to air her criticism.
Reid understands that "people need to do what they need to do for their home states," said his spokesman, Jon Summers. On the other hand, everyone knows where Reid stands on Yucca Mountain, and "the dump is not going to be built, period."
Previous administrations pressed on with Yucca Mountain, adapting the program when it encountered technical challenges. Chu told Murray that President Barack Obama wants a fresh start.
For instance, he said, when Yucca Mountain was found to have more fractures than expected, which might enable moisture to work its way into waste tunnels, managers came up with a fix that was a "multi-, multibillion-dollar titanium shield that's installed under the ground."
"As these things go on, you are beginning to think, 'Are you pouring good money after bad?' " he said. "I don't believe science is willing to say that Yucca Mountain is the ideal site given what we know today and what we believe we can develop in the next 50 years."
NUCLEAR WASTE; Salt domes better than Yucca for long-term storage -- Chu
NUCLEAR WASTE; Salt domes better than Yucca for long-term storage -- Chu
Mike Soraghan, E&E reporter 418 words
4 March 2010
GreenwireGRWR© 2010 E&E Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Under fire from lawmakers for abandoning an effort to develop a nuclear-waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nev., Energy Secretary Steven Chu told Senate appropriators today that salt domes might make better long-term storage sites.
The domes, Chu said, "have been stable for tens of millions, hundreds of millions of years."
"People ask, 'Why were these sites excluded in the first place?" from consideration as possible storage sites, he said.
Yucca Mountain, he said, has fissures and could be saturated with water if the climate shifts in the distant future.
"So you say we could maybe add a titanium shield," Chu said. "Then you wonder if you're throwing good money after bad."
Chu faced hostile questioning from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who had harsh words for the Obama administration's decision on Yucca. She said the decision to pull the plug on Yucca could slow the progress of the cleanup at the Hanford nuclear site in Washington state and other former nuclear weapons sites.
"I think it's irresponsible for DOE to abandon completely the Yucca site," Murray said. "These sites and the communities that support them have been left in limbo."
Murray also asked Chu for an "impact statement" about how shuttering Yucca will affect nuclear cleanups around the country.
Yesterday, the Energy Department filed its motion to withdraw the license at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the spent nuclear waste repository at Yucca (E&ENews PM, March 3).
Chu reiterated today the administration's plan to convene a commission to review and recommend policies to manage U.S. nuclear waste, and he stressed such a move would not affect future nuclear energy expansion in the United States. Murray said the panels should not have excluded restarting Yucca as an option.
Murray also questioned whether the basis for shutting down the facility was based on science or politics. Chu did not pinpoint a specific scientific study that recommended shutting down the site, but he cited the 25 years of experience working at Yucca as the basis for the decision.
At a hearing last week, John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told the House Science Committee that the years of experience at Yucca had not been wasted as they led to a better understanding of the characteristics of nuclear waste and the changes necessary to best store it.
Mike Soraghan, E&E reporter 418 words
4 March 2010
GreenwireGRWR© 2010 E&E Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved
Under fire from lawmakers for abandoning an effort to develop a nuclear-waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nev., Energy Secretary Steven Chu told Senate appropriators today that salt domes might make better long-term storage sites.
The domes, Chu said, "have been stable for tens of millions, hundreds of millions of years."
"People ask, 'Why were these sites excluded in the first place?" from consideration as possible storage sites, he said.
Yucca Mountain, he said, has fissures and could be saturated with water if the climate shifts in the distant future.
"So you say we could maybe add a titanium shield," Chu said. "Then you wonder if you're throwing good money after bad."
Chu faced hostile questioning from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who had harsh words for the Obama administration's decision on Yucca. She said the decision to pull the plug on Yucca could slow the progress of the cleanup at the Hanford nuclear site in Washington state and other former nuclear weapons sites.
"I think it's irresponsible for DOE to abandon completely the Yucca site," Murray said. "These sites and the communities that support them have been left in limbo."
Murray also asked Chu for an "impact statement" about how shuttering Yucca will affect nuclear cleanups around the country.
Yesterday, the Energy Department filed its motion to withdraw the license at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the spent nuclear waste repository at Yucca (E&ENews PM, March 3).
Chu reiterated today the administration's plan to convene a commission to review and recommend policies to manage U.S. nuclear waste, and he stressed such a move would not affect future nuclear energy expansion in the United States. Murray said the panels should not have excluded restarting Yucca as an option.
Murray also questioned whether the basis for shutting down the facility was based on science or politics. Chu did not pinpoint a specific scientific study that recommended shutting down the site, but he cited the 25 years of experience working at Yucca as the basis for the decision.
At a hearing last week, John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told the House Science Committee that the years of experience at Yucca had not been wasted as they led to a better understanding of the characteristics of nuclear waste and the changes necessary to best store it.
DOE files to end Yucca Mountain
Annette Cary;Herald staff writer -Cary Annette-993 words-4 March 2010-Tri-City Herald-TRIC
-English-(c) 2010 The Tri-City Herald. All Rights Reserved.
The Department of Energy filed a petition to withdraw its Nuclear Regulatory Commission license application for the Yucca Mountain, Nev., radioactive waste repository Wednesday afternoon.
Shortly afterward, the state of Washington filed a petition with the NRC in an effort to block DOE from withdrawing the application and permanently terminating the Yucca Mountain project.
“The people of Washington did their part to help America win World War II and the Cold War and it’s long overdue for the federal government to do its part to ensure our state can complete the cleanup process at Hanford,” said Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna in a statement.
His concern was shared by other Washington leaders, both Democrats and Republicans.
Today, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., plans to question Energy Secretary Steven Chu during a Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Hearing about the Obama administration’s decision. She believes Yucca Mountain needs to move forward and in 2002 voted in favor of the Senate resolution approving Yucca Mountain as the national nuclear waste repository.
Hanford has planned to send its high-level radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain for disposal since 2002. The waste includes high-level radioactive tank waste once it is turned into a stable glass form at the vitrification plant and 1,100 tons of highly radioactive fuel removed from Hanford’s K Basins.
“A unilateral decision to abandon Yucca Mountain without any justification and blocking it from ever being considered in the future is simply indefensible,” said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., in a statement. DOE filed its petition to withdraw the license application “with prejudice,” which would prevent it from being refiled.
“Under the law, Yucca Mountain remains the national repository,” Hastings said. “No administration is above the law and I fully support Attorney General McKenna’s legal action to intervene.”
Congress is limited by the Obama administration’s decision to reprogram $115 million and put it toward termination of Yucca Mountain, he said. But he’s “committed to pursuing any and all legislative options that will ensure that Yucca Mountain remains viable and is not sacrificed for election year politics.”
Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., also said he will be exploring “every legislative avenue to correct this mistake, including a motion of disapproval, a funding limitation amendment or a resolution of inquiry.”
Gov. Chris Gregoire supports McKenna’s action to file to oppose DOE after working closely with him to review legal options, said her spokeswoman, Karina Shagren. The governor’s primary concern is that the DOE’s action would permanently remove Yucca Mountain from consideration as a national repository and no option should be off the table now, Shagren said.
“Permanently removing Yucca Mountain as the nation’s primary nuclear waste repository significantly sets back cleanup at Hanford and puts at risk both our state’s environment and its people,” McKenna said.
The state’s petition argues that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires DOE and the NRC to undertake a licensing process for Yucca Mountain and that neither have the legal authority to terminate the licensing process.
If Yucca Mountain no longer is the nation’s repository, parts of the $12.2 billion Hanford vitrification plant may need to be torn down and rebuilt to meet another repository’s requirements for accepting glassified waste, said a statement from the Attorney General’s office. Not only would costs increase significantly, but work also would be delayed to empty Hanford’s leak-prone tanks and treat the waste, the statement said.
“Congress has selected Yucca Mountain as the nation’s repository and roughly $10 billion has been spent on the project,” McKenna said. “The nation has no ready alternatives to deep geologic disposal nor does it have any ready alternatives to Yucca Mountain as a repository site.”
The state has not ruled out taking further legal action if needed, said Andy Fitz, Washington state assistant attorney general. Three Tri-City business leaders — Bob Ferguson, Bill Lampson and Gary Petersen — already have filed a lawsuit in federal court asking a judge to decide if the Obama administration can legally terminate Yucca Mountain.
“While DOE reaffirms its obligation to take possession and dispose of the nation’s spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste, the Secretary of Energy has decided that a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain is not a workable option for long-term disposition of these materials,” DOE wrote in its petition to withdraw the Yucca Mountain license application.
The energy secretary has established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, which will conduct a comprehensive review and consider applications for disposition of the waste and spent fuel, the DOE petition said. The commission will have its first meetings March 25 and 26.
Withdrawing the license application will provide finality in ending the Yucca Mountain project and enable the blue ribbon commission to focus on alternate methods of meeting the federal government’s obligation to take high-level waste and used nuclear fuels, the DOE petition said.
Among topics it will consider are existing fuel cycle technologies that use commercial fuel just once.
“It is the secretary of energy’s judgment that scientific and engineering knowledge on issues relevant to disposition of high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel has advanced dramatically over the 20 years since the Yucca Mountain project was initiated,” the DOE petition said.
Future proposals for disposition of waste and fuel should be based on a comprehensive and careful evaluation of options supported by new knowledge and the ability to secure broad public support, which the Obama administration believes Yucca Mountain did not have, the DOE petition said.
DOE argued that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 2002 does not prevent the energy secretary from withdrawing the license nor does it outline a step-by-step process for opening Yucca Mountain. Annette Cary: 582-1533; acary@tricity herald.com
-English-(c) 2010 The Tri-City Herald. All Rights Reserved.
The Department of Energy filed a petition to withdraw its Nuclear Regulatory Commission license application for the Yucca Mountain, Nev., radioactive waste repository Wednesday afternoon.
Shortly afterward, the state of Washington filed a petition with the NRC in an effort to block DOE from withdrawing the application and permanently terminating the Yucca Mountain project.
“The people of Washington did their part to help America win World War II and the Cold War and it’s long overdue for the federal government to do its part to ensure our state can complete the cleanup process at Hanford,” said Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna in a statement.
His concern was shared by other Washington leaders, both Democrats and Republicans.
Today, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., plans to question Energy Secretary Steven Chu during a Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Hearing about the Obama administration’s decision. She believes Yucca Mountain needs to move forward and in 2002 voted in favor of the Senate resolution approving Yucca Mountain as the national nuclear waste repository.
Hanford has planned to send its high-level radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain for disposal since 2002. The waste includes high-level radioactive tank waste once it is turned into a stable glass form at the vitrification plant and 1,100 tons of highly radioactive fuel removed from Hanford’s K Basins.
“A unilateral decision to abandon Yucca Mountain without any justification and blocking it from ever being considered in the future is simply indefensible,” said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., in a statement. DOE filed its petition to withdraw the license application “with prejudice,” which would prevent it from being refiled.
“Under the law, Yucca Mountain remains the national repository,” Hastings said. “No administration is above the law and I fully support Attorney General McKenna’s legal action to intervene.”
Congress is limited by the Obama administration’s decision to reprogram $115 million and put it toward termination of Yucca Mountain, he said. But he’s “committed to pursuing any and all legislative options that will ensure that Yucca Mountain remains viable and is not sacrificed for election year politics.”
Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., also said he will be exploring “every legislative avenue to correct this mistake, including a motion of disapproval, a funding limitation amendment or a resolution of inquiry.”
Gov. Chris Gregoire supports McKenna’s action to file to oppose DOE after working closely with him to review legal options, said her spokeswoman, Karina Shagren. The governor’s primary concern is that the DOE’s action would permanently remove Yucca Mountain from consideration as a national repository and no option should be off the table now, Shagren said.
“Permanently removing Yucca Mountain as the nation’s primary nuclear waste repository significantly sets back cleanup at Hanford and puts at risk both our state’s environment and its people,” McKenna said.
The state’s petition argues that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires DOE and the NRC to undertake a licensing process for Yucca Mountain and that neither have the legal authority to terminate the licensing process.
If Yucca Mountain no longer is the nation’s repository, parts of the $12.2 billion Hanford vitrification plant may need to be torn down and rebuilt to meet another repository’s requirements for accepting glassified waste, said a statement from the Attorney General’s office. Not only would costs increase significantly, but work also would be delayed to empty Hanford’s leak-prone tanks and treat the waste, the statement said.
“Congress has selected Yucca Mountain as the nation’s repository and roughly $10 billion has been spent on the project,” McKenna said. “The nation has no ready alternatives to deep geologic disposal nor does it have any ready alternatives to Yucca Mountain as a repository site.”
The state has not ruled out taking further legal action if needed, said Andy Fitz, Washington state assistant attorney general. Three Tri-City business leaders — Bob Ferguson, Bill Lampson and Gary Petersen — already have filed a lawsuit in federal court asking a judge to decide if the Obama administration can legally terminate Yucca Mountain.
“While DOE reaffirms its obligation to take possession and dispose of the nation’s spent nuclear fuel and high-level nuclear waste, the Secretary of Energy has decided that a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain is not a workable option for long-term disposition of these materials,” DOE wrote in its petition to withdraw the Yucca Mountain license application.
The energy secretary has established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, which will conduct a comprehensive review and consider applications for disposition of the waste and spent fuel, the DOE petition said. The commission will have its first meetings March 25 and 26.
Withdrawing the license application will provide finality in ending the Yucca Mountain project and enable the blue ribbon commission to focus on alternate methods of meeting the federal government’s obligation to take high-level waste and used nuclear fuels, the DOE petition said.
Among topics it will consider are existing fuel cycle technologies that use commercial fuel just once.
“It is the secretary of energy’s judgment that scientific and engineering knowledge on issues relevant to disposition of high-level waste and spent nuclear fuel has advanced dramatically over the 20 years since the Yucca Mountain project was initiated,” the DOE petition said.
Future proposals for disposition of waste and fuel should be based on a comprehensive and careful evaluation of options supported by new knowledge and the ability to secure broad public support, which the Obama administration believes Yucca Mountain did not have, the DOE petition said.
DOE argued that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 2002 does not prevent the energy secretary from withdrawing the license nor does it outline a step-by-step process for opening Yucca Mountain. Annette Cary: 582-1533; acary@tricity herald.com
DOE takes step to kill project
Steve Tetreault 954 words4 March 2010the Las Vegas Review-Journal
LVGS2Benglish© 2010 The Las Vegas Review-Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All Rights Reserved. By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - The Department of Energy moved Wednesday to end almost 30 years of trying to bury nuclear waste in Nevada.
DOE attorneys filed paperwork to withdraw a license application to build a repository at Yucca Mountain and to make it difficult if not impossible for the project to be resurrected.
"The Secretary of Energy has decided that a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain is not a workable option for long-term disposition of these materials," the department said in a 10-page motion submitted to an arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
If the application is dismissed, DOE "does not intend ever to refile" it, attorneys said. They asked the license bid be withdrawn "with prejudice," a legal status that would hammer the longest nails into the Yucca coffin.
The motion submitted to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board represents the Yucca Mountain endgame for President Barack Obama. The president has said he wants to update the nation's options for managing a stockpile of more than 100,000 tons of used reactor fuel and highly radioactive defense waste.
A commission will start a study of future options with public meetings on March 25 and 26.
The NRC must rule on DOE's motion, a legal process that will dominate the next few months at least as parties weigh in on the prospect of ending the Yucca program.
The program could be brought to an effective end by late spring, said Marty Malsch, an attorney for the state.
On the other hand, it could become bogged down in new legal battles if an NRC decision is appealed to federal courts. Rather than an end, the motion could be the opening of a new chapter in the decades-long struggle over how the nation deals with its nuclear waste.
Attorneys familiar with the NRC said the agency has never been confronted with an applicant who wanted to kill its own project without the option of ever bringing it back.
Nevada officials were exultant after reading the DOE's motion. After years of battling the department, Nevada and DOE find themselves on the same side.
"Whoo hoo," Bruce Breslow, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, said in a note. "Aside from my wife this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
The Energy Department's motion "marks the final stage of a battle that I've fought since arriving in Congress," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., commended the Obama administration "for holding up their end of the bargain."
"Nevadans are finally seeing the end to a 30-year effort to drive a nuclear 'square peg' into a $100 billion 'round hole' in the Nevada desert," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.
The argument by DOE attorneys was simple: The secretary of energy wants to withdraw the application, and "settled law" holds that the NRC should defer to his judgment.
"Whether the public interest would be served by dismissing this application with prejudice is a matter within the purview of the secretary," they said.
Parties in the NRC license process have 10 days to file responses.
Darrell Lacy, director of Nye County's nuclear waste office, wondered about the reasons DOE used to justify its decision.
"It's an unprecedented move," he said. "There's probably little anyone can do to stop them."d
Clark County Nuclear Waste Division Manager Irene Navis said the motion is a "very strong commitment" by the department, especially because it states that DOE does not ever intend to refile a Yucca Mountain construction request.
Anticipating arguments that withdrawing the license application would violate the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, department attorneys said that "is simply wrong."d
Nothing in that law, attorneys said, "strips the secretary of an applicant's ordinary right to seek dismissal."d
The Bush administration had gone into overdrive to complete its work and get the licensing process started in 2008. Obama in alliance with Reid pledged to reverse that course.d
Obama has followed through, to the cheers of Nevadans and environmental activists who say the site would be unsafe and to the boos of the nuclear industry and officials in other states where the radioactive materials will remain for the foreseeable future.d
The states of Washington and South Carolina, home to nuclear weapons waste that was scheduled for repository burial, have filed motions to intervene in the case, hoping to keep the project alive.d
Steve Kraft, a Nuclear Energy Institute senior director, said NEI will file an objection and seek to prevent the license from being withdrawn with prejudice. DOE, he said, failed to give a reason why it wants to end the program.d
In previewing possible arguments, nuclear industry attorneys say that power companies, electricity ratepayers and taxpayers would be deprived of their legal rights if the repository plan were shelved and not allowed to be resubmitted.d
At a congressional hearing Wednesday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu came under fire from several Republicans who said DOE was ending the Yucca project without giving a reason why.d
"This is a president who said he wants to bring scientific analysis to its rightful place," said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R- Fla. "What was the scientific analysis, and who made it to withdraw the application?"Rep. Vern Ehlers, R-Mich., a nuclear physicist, came to Chu's rescue. Congress, he said, set "unrealistic requirements for the Yucca repository that in my mind could not be met under any realistic procedures."Las Vegas Review-Journal writer Keith Rogers contributed to this report. Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.
Document LVGS000020100305e63400006
LVGS2Benglish© 2010 The Las Vegas Review-Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All Rights Reserved. By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - The Department of Energy moved Wednesday to end almost 30 years of trying to bury nuclear waste in Nevada.
DOE attorneys filed paperwork to withdraw a license application to build a repository at Yucca Mountain and to make it difficult if not impossible for the project to be resurrected.
"The Secretary of Energy has decided that a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain is not a workable option for long-term disposition of these materials," the department said in a 10-page motion submitted to an arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
If the application is dismissed, DOE "does not intend ever to refile" it, attorneys said. They asked the license bid be withdrawn "with prejudice," a legal status that would hammer the longest nails into the Yucca coffin.
The motion submitted to the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board represents the Yucca Mountain endgame for President Barack Obama. The president has said he wants to update the nation's options for managing a stockpile of more than 100,000 tons of used reactor fuel and highly radioactive defense waste.
A commission will start a study of future options with public meetings on March 25 and 26.
The NRC must rule on DOE's motion, a legal process that will dominate the next few months at least as parties weigh in on the prospect of ending the Yucca program.
The program could be brought to an effective end by late spring, said Marty Malsch, an attorney for the state.
On the other hand, it could become bogged down in new legal battles if an NRC decision is appealed to federal courts. Rather than an end, the motion could be the opening of a new chapter in the decades-long struggle over how the nation deals with its nuclear waste.
Attorneys familiar with the NRC said the agency has never been confronted with an applicant who wanted to kill its own project without the option of ever bringing it back.
Nevada officials were exultant after reading the DOE's motion. After years of battling the department, Nevada and DOE find themselves on the same side.
"Whoo hoo," Bruce Breslow, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, said in a note. "Aside from my wife this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
The Energy Department's motion "marks the final stage of a battle that I've fought since arriving in Congress," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., commended the Obama administration "for holding up their end of the bargain."
"Nevadans are finally seeing the end to a 30-year effort to drive a nuclear 'square peg' into a $100 billion 'round hole' in the Nevada desert," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.
The argument by DOE attorneys was simple: The secretary of energy wants to withdraw the application, and "settled law" holds that the NRC should defer to his judgment.
"Whether the public interest would be served by dismissing this application with prejudice is a matter within the purview of the secretary," they said.
Parties in the NRC license process have 10 days to file responses.
Darrell Lacy, director of Nye County's nuclear waste office, wondered about the reasons DOE used to justify its decision.
"It's an unprecedented move," he said. "There's probably little anyone can do to stop them."d
Clark County Nuclear Waste Division Manager Irene Navis said the motion is a "very strong commitment" by the department, especially because it states that DOE does not ever intend to refile a Yucca Mountain construction request.
Anticipating arguments that withdrawing the license application would violate the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, department attorneys said that "is simply wrong."d
Nothing in that law, attorneys said, "strips the secretary of an applicant's ordinary right to seek dismissal."d
The Bush administration had gone into overdrive to complete its work and get the licensing process started in 2008. Obama in alliance with Reid pledged to reverse that course.d
Obama has followed through, to the cheers of Nevadans and environmental activists who say the site would be unsafe and to the boos of the nuclear industry and officials in other states where the radioactive materials will remain for the foreseeable future.d
The states of Washington and South Carolina, home to nuclear weapons waste that was scheduled for repository burial, have filed motions to intervene in the case, hoping to keep the project alive.d
Steve Kraft, a Nuclear Energy Institute senior director, said NEI will file an objection and seek to prevent the license from being withdrawn with prejudice. DOE, he said, failed to give a reason why it wants to end the program.d
In previewing possible arguments, nuclear industry attorneys say that power companies, electricity ratepayers and taxpayers would be deprived of their legal rights if the repository plan were shelved and not allowed to be resubmitted.d
At a congressional hearing Wednesday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu came under fire from several Republicans who said DOE was ending the Yucca project without giving a reason why.d
"This is a president who said he wants to bring scientific analysis to its rightful place," said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R- Fla. "What was the scientific analysis, and who made it to withdraw the application?"Rep. Vern Ehlers, R-Mich., a nuclear physicist, came to Chu's rescue. Congress, he said, set "unrealistic requirements for the Yucca repository that in my mind could not be met under any realistic procedures."Las Vegas Review-Journal writer Keith Rogers contributed to this report. Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.
Document LVGS000020100305e63400006
NUCLEAR POWER; Chu, House GOP spar over Yucca Mountain decision
Katie Howell, E&E reporter /716 words/4 March 2010
Environment & Energy DailyENENDEnglish
© 2010 E&E Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved
House Republicans yesterday used an Energy Department budget hearing as an opportunity to blast a top Obama administration official on the shutdown of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu spent a large portion of his time at the House Science and Technology Committee justifying the administration's decision to cut ties with the ill-fated repository.
The Obama administration drastically cut funding for the decades-old project in its fiscal 2010 budget request, and it followed that move by cutting funds entirely in the current request. Yesterday, the Energy Department filed a motion to withdraw the Yucca Mountain license at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"It's time to prepare a more comprehensive review about what's going on," Chu said. "We know more now than we did in the mid-1980s."
Chu reiterated the administration's plan to convene a "blue ribbon" commission to review and recommend policies to manage U.S. nuclear waste, and he stressed such a move would not impact future nuclear energy expansion in the United States.
But many Republicans remained unconvinced and called on Chu to back up the move to shut down Yucca with scientific basis.
"What I'm hearing is that no scientific analysis was made" in the decision to withdraw the Yucca license application, said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.).
Ranking member Ralph Hall (R-Texas) agreed, saying, "Nuclear waste storage is critical, and the administration's determination that Yucca Mountain is not a workable option seems cavalier when not based on any scientific, engineering or economic analysis."
Chu would not pinpoint a specific scientific study, but he cited the 25 years of experience working at Yucca as the basis for the decision. At a hearing last week, John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told the Science Committee that the years of experience at Yucca hadn't been wasted as they led to a better understanding of the characteristics of nuclear waste and the changes necessary to best store it.
But not all Republicans objected to the administration's plan. "There are far better ways to deal with nuclear waste than the Yucca Mountain plan," said Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), who plans to retire at the end of this session. "I think the Department of Energy did the right thing."
Nuclear loan guarantees
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) criticized Chu for spending federal dollars to build reactors based on decades-old technology. The department's first nuclear loan guarantee is slated for a plant that will use a light water reactor based on technology originally developed decades ago.
But Chu defended the loan guarantee, saying major advancements have been made in the technology since the last light water nuclear reactor was built more than 20 years ago.
The new reactor "is considerably safer than older designs from the previous generation," Chu said, adding that DOE is currently researching the next generation of nuclear reactors. "We want to support that as well, but nuclear takes time."
Other budget concerns
Republicans also expressed concerns about DOE's decision to cut funding for fossil energy R&D.
"Most important -- and most concerning -- to me in this budget is its approach to energy security," Hall said. "While I recognize and generally support efforts to advance energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, any serious approach to strengthening American energy independence must be all of the above and complemented by a comprehensive effort to expand traditional sources of domestic energy, primarily oil and natural gas."
Chu said the department was not cutting funding for oil and gas programs that the industry was not yet able to pay for, specifically the methane hydrate research program. And he highlighted the flood of money from the stimulus bill and last year's appropriation for carbon capture and sequestration research for coal-fired power plants.
"As soon as the oil and gas industry ... has the commercial means, the financial means, we want to let the companies take over," Chu said. "And we pick up in those instances where the companies say it's too speculative and they don't want to do it."
Document ENEND00020100304e63400004
Environment & Energy DailyENENDEnglish
© 2010 E&E Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved
House Republicans yesterday used an Energy Department budget hearing as an opportunity to blast a top Obama administration official on the shutdown of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu spent a large portion of his time at the House Science and Technology Committee justifying the administration's decision to cut ties with the ill-fated repository.
The Obama administration drastically cut funding for the decades-old project in its fiscal 2010 budget request, and it followed that move by cutting funds entirely in the current request. Yesterday, the Energy Department filed a motion to withdraw the Yucca Mountain license at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"It's time to prepare a more comprehensive review about what's going on," Chu said. "We know more now than we did in the mid-1980s."
Chu reiterated the administration's plan to convene a "blue ribbon" commission to review and recommend policies to manage U.S. nuclear waste, and he stressed such a move would not impact future nuclear energy expansion in the United States.
But many Republicans remained unconvinced and called on Chu to back up the move to shut down Yucca with scientific basis.
"What I'm hearing is that no scientific analysis was made" in the decision to withdraw the Yucca license application, said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.).
Ranking member Ralph Hall (R-Texas) agreed, saying, "Nuclear waste storage is critical, and the administration's determination that Yucca Mountain is not a workable option seems cavalier when not based on any scientific, engineering or economic analysis."
Chu would not pinpoint a specific scientific study, but he cited the 25 years of experience working at Yucca as the basis for the decision. At a hearing last week, John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told the Science Committee that the years of experience at Yucca hadn't been wasted as they led to a better understanding of the characteristics of nuclear waste and the changes necessary to best store it.
But not all Republicans objected to the administration's plan. "There are far better ways to deal with nuclear waste than the Yucca Mountain plan," said Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), who plans to retire at the end of this session. "I think the Department of Energy did the right thing."
Nuclear loan guarantees
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) criticized Chu for spending federal dollars to build reactors based on decades-old technology. The department's first nuclear loan guarantee is slated for a plant that will use a light water reactor based on technology originally developed decades ago.
But Chu defended the loan guarantee, saying major advancements have been made in the technology since the last light water nuclear reactor was built more than 20 years ago.
The new reactor "is considerably safer than older designs from the previous generation," Chu said, adding that DOE is currently researching the next generation of nuclear reactors. "We want to support that as well, but nuclear takes time."
Other budget concerns
Republicans also expressed concerns about DOE's decision to cut funding for fossil energy R&D.
"Most important -- and most concerning -- to me in this budget is its approach to energy security," Hall said. "While I recognize and generally support efforts to advance energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, any serious approach to strengthening American energy independence must be all of the above and complemented by a comprehensive effort to expand traditional sources of domestic energy, primarily oil and natural gas."
Chu said the department was not cutting funding for oil and gas programs that the industry was not yet able to pay for, specifically the methane hydrate research program. And he highlighted the flood of money from the stimulus bill and last year's appropriation for carbon capture and sequestration research for coal-fired power plants.
"As soon as the oil and gas industry ... has the commercial means, the financial means, we want to let the companies take over," Chu said. "And we pick up in those instances where the companies say it's too speculative and they don't want to do it."
Document ENEND00020100304e63400004
Energy Department to Yank Yucca Mountain License Application
555 words/3 March 2010
Targeted News ServiceTARGNS
EnglishCopyright 2010 Targeted News Service ALL Rights Reserved
WASHINGTON, March 3 -- Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. (1st CD), issued the following news release:
Congresswoman Shelley Berkley today praised the Department of Energy for moving to permanently withdraw from consideration the license application for the failed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. The motion seeking to pull the license from consideration is expected to be filed with nuclear regulators later this afternoon. The move is one more step toward permanently dismantling the proposed dump located 90 minutes outside Las Vegas following President Obama's declaration that he was terminating the project.
"Permanently pulling the license application is a critical step in dismantling Yucca Mountain once and for all so that this threat never haunts Nevada families again," said Berkley. "Nevadans are finally seeing the end to a 30-year effort to drive a nuclear 'square peg' into a $100 billion 'round hole' in the Nevada desert."
The move seeking permission to pull the license application for the proposed dump follows the announcement earlier today that the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future will meet for the first time on March 25th and 26th in Washington, D.C.
"President Obama pledged to Nevadans that he would end efforts to turn our State into a radioactive garbage dump and now his Blue Ribbon Commission will begin its work to find an alternative to Yucca Mountain," said Berkley. "Whether it was earthquakes or other flaws at the site, the danger from waste shipments across the U.S. or its budget busting price tag -- President Obama was 100% right to dump Yucca Mountain," said Berkley.
Along with calling on the industry and its allies to support the panel's mission of finding an alternative to Yucca Mountain, Berkley is also challenging supporters of the dump to explain their calls for continued wasteful spending on the doomed project.
"Those still backing the dump clearly want to see wasteful spending on this project continue at a time when our nation is facing a fiscal crisis. Maybe they forget there's no magic money tree in Nevada that will pay for Yucca Mountain," Berkley said. "The cost to build this $100 billion dump will be passed along to the families of nuclear states in the form of higher energy bills every month and to taxpayers in the form of lawsuit settlements. Ending Yucca Mountain will also end plans for decades of nuclear waste shipments across the U.S. -- each a potential terrorist target or accident waiting to happen," said Berkley. "The time has also come for the nuclear industry to offer its own solutions to the nuclear waste issue that do not include any plan for dumping nuclear waste outside Las Vegas for the next one million years."
The Blue Ribbon Commission, co-chaired by former Congressman Lee Hamilton and former National Security Advisor General Brent Scowcroft, will conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and will provide recommendations for developing a safe, long-term solution to managing the nation's used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. The Commission is made up of 15 members who have a range of expertise and experience in nuclear issues, including scientists, industry representatives, and respected former elected officials.
Targeted News ServiceTARGNS
EnglishCopyright 2010 Targeted News Service ALL Rights Reserved
WASHINGTON, March 3 -- Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. (1st CD), issued the following news release:
Congresswoman Shelley Berkley today praised the Department of Energy for moving to permanently withdraw from consideration the license application for the failed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. The motion seeking to pull the license from consideration is expected to be filed with nuclear regulators later this afternoon. The move is one more step toward permanently dismantling the proposed dump located 90 minutes outside Las Vegas following President Obama's declaration that he was terminating the project.
"Permanently pulling the license application is a critical step in dismantling Yucca Mountain once and for all so that this threat never haunts Nevada families again," said Berkley. "Nevadans are finally seeing the end to a 30-year effort to drive a nuclear 'square peg' into a $100 billion 'round hole' in the Nevada desert."
The move seeking permission to pull the license application for the proposed dump follows the announcement earlier today that the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future will meet for the first time on March 25th and 26th in Washington, D.C.
"President Obama pledged to Nevadans that he would end efforts to turn our State into a radioactive garbage dump and now his Blue Ribbon Commission will begin its work to find an alternative to Yucca Mountain," said Berkley. "Whether it was earthquakes or other flaws at the site, the danger from waste shipments across the U.S. or its budget busting price tag -- President Obama was 100% right to dump Yucca Mountain," said Berkley.
Along with calling on the industry and its allies to support the panel's mission of finding an alternative to Yucca Mountain, Berkley is also challenging supporters of the dump to explain their calls for continued wasteful spending on the doomed project.
"Those still backing the dump clearly want to see wasteful spending on this project continue at a time when our nation is facing a fiscal crisis. Maybe they forget there's no magic money tree in Nevada that will pay for Yucca Mountain," Berkley said. "The cost to build this $100 billion dump will be passed along to the families of nuclear states in the form of higher energy bills every month and to taxpayers in the form of lawsuit settlements. Ending Yucca Mountain will also end plans for decades of nuclear waste shipments across the U.S. -- each a potential terrorist target or accident waiting to happen," said Berkley. "The time has also come for the nuclear industry to offer its own solutions to the nuclear waste issue that do not include any plan for dumping nuclear waste outside Las Vegas for the next one million years."
The Blue Ribbon Commission, co-chaired by former Congressman Lee Hamilton and former National Security Advisor General Brent Scowcroft, will conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and will provide recommendations for developing a safe, long-term solution to managing the nation's used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. The Commission is made up of 15 members who have a range of expertise and experience in nuclear issues, including scientists, industry representatives, and respected former elected officials.
BLUE RIBBON PANEL SETS FIRST MEETING TO FIND YUCCA MOUNTAIN ALTERNATIVE - Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) News Release
-NV) News Release /465 words/3 March 2010/Congressional Documents and Publications/CONGDP
/English/(c) 2010 Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. /Office of Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) News Release
Washington, D.C. Calling it another step toward permanently dismantling Yucca Mountain, Congresswoman Shelley Berkley today expressed optimism about the discussions that will take place during the inaugural meeting of the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future. The 15-member panel will meet for the first time on March 25th and 26th in Washington, D.C.
"President Obama pledged to Nevadans that he would end efforts to turn our State into a radioactive garbage dump and now his Blue Ribbon Commission will begin its work to find an alternative to Yucca Mountain," said Berkley. "Whether it was earthquakes or other flaws at the site, the danger from waste shipments across the U.S. or its budget busting price tag -- President Obama was 100% right to dump Yucca Mountain," said Berkley. "Nevadans are finally seeing the end to a 30-year effort to drive a nuclear 'square peg' into a $100 billion 'round hole' in the Nevada desert."
Along with calling on the industry and its allies to support the panel's mission of finding an alternative to Yucca Mountain, Berkley is also challenging supporters of the dump to explain their calls for continued wasteful spending on the doomed project.
"Those still backing the dump clearly want to see wasteful spending on this project continue at a time when our nation is facing a fiscal crisis. Maybe they forget there's no magic money tree in Nevada that will pay for Yucca Mountain," Berkley said. "The cost to build this $100 billion dump will be passed along to the families of nuclear states in the form of higher energy bills every month and to taxpayers in the form of lawsuit settlements. Ending Yucca Mountain will also end plans for decades of nuclear waste shipments across the U.S. -- each a potential terrorist target or accident waiting to happen," said Berkley. "The time has also come for the nuclear industry to offer its own solutions to the nuclear waste issue that do not include any plan for dumping nuclear waste outside Las Vegas for the next one million years."
The Blue Ribbon Commission, co-chaired by former Congressman Lee Hamilton and former National Security Advisor General Brent Scowcroft, will conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and will provide recommendations for developing a safe, long-term solution to managing the nation's used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. The Commission is made up of 15 members who have a range of expertise and experience in nuclear issues, including scientists, industry representatives, and respected former elected officials.
/English/(c) 2010 Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. /Office of Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) News Release
Washington, D.C. Calling it another step toward permanently dismantling Yucca Mountain, Congresswoman Shelley Berkley today expressed optimism about the discussions that will take place during the inaugural meeting of the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future. The 15-member panel will meet for the first time on March 25th and 26th in Washington, D.C.
"President Obama pledged to Nevadans that he would end efforts to turn our State into a radioactive garbage dump and now his Blue Ribbon Commission will begin its work to find an alternative to Yucca Mountain," said Berkley. "Whether it was earthquakes or other flaws at the site, the danger from waste shipments across the U.S. or its budget busting price tag -- President Obama was 100% right to dump Yucca Mountain," said Berkley. "Nevadans are finally seeing the end to a 30-year effort to drive a nuclear 'square peg' into a $100 billion 'round hole' in the Nevada desert."
Along with calling on the industry and its allies to support the panel's mission of finding an alternative to Yucca Mountain, Berkley is also challenging supporters of the dump to explain their calls for continued wasteful spending on the doomed project.
"Those still backing the dump clearly want to see wasteful spending on this project continue at a time when our nation is facing a fiscal crisis. Maybe they forget there's no magic money tree in Nevada that will pay for Yucca Mountain," Berkley said. "The cost to build this $100 billion dump will be passed along to the families of nuclear states in the form of higher energy bills every month and to taxpayers in the form of lawsuit settlements. Ending Yucca Mountain will also end plans for decades of nuclear waste shipments across the U.S. -- each a potential terrorist target or accident waiting to happen," said Berkley. "The time has also come for the nuclear industry to offer its own solutions to the nuclear waste issue that do not include any plan for dumping nuclear waste outside Las Vegas for the next one million years."
The Blue Ribbon Commission, co-chaired by former Congressman Lee Hamilton and former National Security Advisor General Brent Scowcroft, will conduct a comprehensive review of policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and will provide recommendations for developing a safe, long-term solution to managing the nation's used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. The Commission is made up of 15 members who have a range of expertise and experience in nuclear issues, including scientists, industry representatives, and respected former elected officials.
Washington Intervenes to Oppose Withdrawal of Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Disposal Option
731 words/3 March 2010/Targeted News Service/TARGNS/English/Copyright 2010 Targeted News Service ALL Rights Reserved
OLYMPIA, Wash., March 3 -- The Washington state Attorney General issued the following news release:
Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced Washington has filed its petition (http://www.atg.wa.gov/uploadedFiles/Home/About_the_Office/Divisions/Ecology/Hanford/PetitionToInterveneFINAL.pdf) to intervene in the Yucca Mountain licensing proceeding before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The state's petition opposes the motion filed by the federal Department of Energy (DOE) today (http://www.energy.gov/news/documents/DOE_Motion_to_Withdraw.pdf) to withdraw "with prejudice" its license application for the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository. If successful, this move by DOE could unilaterally preclude any further consideration of that site as a nuclear waste repository.
"The people of Washington did their part to help America win World War II and the Cold War--and it's long overdue for the federal government to do its part to ensure our state can complete the clean-up process at Hanford," McKenna said. "Permanently removing Yucca Mountain as the nation's primary nuclear waste repository significantly sets back cleanup at Hanford - and puts at risk both our state's environment and its people."
In 2002, Congress designated Yucca Mountain as the nation's sole current repository site for deep geologic disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. Congress directed DOE to file a license application for the Yucca Mountain site with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and thereby commence a formal evaluation and licensing process overseen by the NRC.
If the Department of Energy succeeds in withdrawing its license application with prejudice, Yucca Mountain could be permanently removed from consideration as the nation's geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste.Washington's petition to intervene in the licensing proceeding before the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board is the state's next step in an ongoing process to protect Washington's interests and ensure that the Yucca Mountain site continues to be evaluated as Congress directed.
In its petition, Washington argues that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires DOE and the NRC to undertake a licensing process for Yucca Mountain. Washington argues that under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, neither the DOE nor the NRC have the legal authority to terminate that licensing process prematurely and in a manner that forever forecloses it from being reopened.
Between 1944 and 1989, the US produced plutonium for use in nuclear weapons at the DOE's Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the Tri-Cities. Washington hosts and oversees the cleanup of nearly two-thirds of the nation's defense-related, high-level radioactive waste at Hanford.
Roughly 53 million gallons of nuclear waste is stored in 177 large underground tanks--of which 149 are 42 years beyond their expected 25-year design life. Of the 149 tanks, more than one-third are known or suspected to be leaking, releasing roughly 1 million gallons of waste to Hanford's surrounding soils. Hanford lacks the storage capacity to retrieve the waste from these tanks until the waste treatment and disposal process is underway.
Washington's $12.3 billion Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) continues to be designed and constructed to meet standards specific to the Yucca Mountain facility. Design and engineering for the WTP is 78 percent complete and construction is 48 percent complete.
Termination of the Yucca Mountain repository could result in the need to tear down and rebuild portions of the WTP to implement design and engineering changes necessary to meet another repository's waste acceptance criteria, resulting in significant costs and delays in Hanford's entire tank waste clean-up mission.
"Congress has selected Yucca Mountain as the nation's repository and roughly $10 billion has been spent on the project. The nation has no ready alternatives to deep geologic disposal nor does it have any ready alternatives to Yucca Mountain as a repository site," McKenna said. "We vigorously oppose any efforts to remove this facility from consideration and are prepared to staunchly defend the interests of Washington in identifying a safe repository for the millions of gallons of hazardous waste our state currently houses."
NOTE: Othere publicly available documents related to the High Level Waste Hearing are posted here: http://hlwehd.nrc.gov/public_hlw-ehd
TNS sm92 100304-sm92-2661583 71SibanaM
Janelle Guthrie, Communications Director, 360/586-0725
Document TARGNS0020100304e633003kn
OLYMPIA, Wash., March 3 -- The Washington state Attorney General issued the following news release:
Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced Washington has filed its petition (http://www.atg.wa.gov/uploadedFiles/Home/About_the_Office/Divisions/Ecology/Hanford/PetitionToInterveneFINAL.pdf) to intervene in the Yucca Mountain licensing proceeding before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The state's petition opposes the motion filed by the federal Department of Energy (DOE) today (http://www.energy.gov/news/documents/DOE_Motion_to_Withdraw.pdf) to withdraw "with prejudice" its license application for the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository. If successful, this move by DOE could unilaterally preclude any further consideration of that site as a nuclear waste repository.
"The people of Washington did their part to help America win World War II and the Cold War--and it's long overdue for the federal government to do its part to ensure our state can complete the clean-up process at Hanford," McKenna said. "Permanently removing Yucca Mountain as the nation's primary nuclear waste repository significantly sets back cleanup at Hanford - and puts at risk both our state's environment and its people."
In 2002, Congress designated Yucca Mountain as the nation's sole current repository site for deep geologic disposal of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. Congress directed DOE to file a license application for the Yucca Mountain site with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and thereby commence a formal evaluation and licensing process overseen by the NRC.
If the Department of Energy succeeds in withdrawing its license application with prejudice, Yucca Mountain could be permanently removed from consideration as the nation's geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste.Washington's petition to intervene in the licensing proceeding before the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board is the state's next step in an ongoing process to protect Washington's interests and ensure that the Yucca Mountain site continues to be evaluated as Congress directed.
In its petition, Washington argues that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires DOE and the NRC to undertake a licensing process for Yucca Mountain. Washington argues that under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, neither the DOE nor the NRC have the legal authority to terminate that licensing process prematurely and in a manner that forever forecloses it from being reopened.
Between 1944 and 1989, the US produced plutonium for use in nuclear weapons at the DOE's Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the Tri-Cities. Washington hosts and oversees the cleanup of nearly two-thirds of the nation's defense-related, high-level radioactive waste at Hanford.
Roughly 53 million gallons of nuclear waste is stored in 177 large underground tanks--of which 149 are 42 years beyond their expected 25-year design life. Of the 149 tanks, more than one-third are known or suspected to be leaking, releasing roughly 1 million gallons of waste to Hanford's surrounding soils. Hanford lacks the storage capacity to retrieve the waste from these tanks until the waste treatment and disposal process is underway.
Washington's $12.3 billion Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) continues to be designed and constructed to meet standards specific to the Yucca Mountain facility. Design and engineering for the WTP is 78 percent complete and construction is 48 percent complete.
Termination of the Yucca Mountain repository could result in the need to tear down and rebuild portions of the WTP to implement design and engineering changes necessary to meet another repository's waste acceptance criteria, resulting in significant costs and delays in Hanford's entire tank waste clean-up mission.
"Congress has selected Yucca Mountain as the nation's repository and roughly $10 billion has been spent on the project. The nation has no ready alternatives to deep geologic disposal nor does it have any ready alternatives to Yucca Mountain as a repository site," McKenna said. "We vigorously oppose any efforts to remove this facility from consideration and are prepared to staunchly defend the interests of Washington in identifying a safe repository for the millions of gallons of hazardous waste our state currently houses."
NOTE: Othere publicly available documents related to the High Level Waste Hearing are posted here: http://hlwehd.nrc.gov/public_hlw-ehd
TNS sm92 100304-sm92-2661583 71SibanaM
Janelle Guthrie, Communications Director, 360/586-0725
Document TARGNS0020100304e633003kn
STATEMENT BY CONGRESSMAN DOC HASTINGS ON PRESIDENT OBAMA'S ACTION TO PERMANENTLY ABANDON YUCCA MOUNTAIN
425 words/3 March 2010/States News Service/SNS/English/(c) 2010 States News Service /
The following information was released by the office of Washington Rep. Doc Hastings:
"As recently as February 16th, President Obama signaled a 'commitment to jumpstarting the nation's nuclear power industry.' Not only does today's action by the Administration fly in the face of this commitment, it also means that high-level defense nuclear waste at Hanford will remain in our state longer.
"While Congress may be limited by the Administration's decision to reprogram $115 million and put it towards termination of Yucca Mountain, I am committed to pursuing any and all legislative options that will ensure that Yucca mountain remains viable and is not sacrificed for election year politics.
"Washington is home to more of the federal government's defense nuclear waste than any other state and that waste is slated to be shipped out of our state to Yucca Mountain for permanent storage. Here at Hanford, the Waste Treatment Plant and the glass it will produce have been designed to meet standards that are specific to the Yucca Mountain repository. Taking Yucca Mountain off the table raises real questions about potential impacts on the Waste Treatment Plant and the cost of the additional interim storage that will be required. These are questions that deserve to be fully and publically answered before any irreversible action is taken.
"I have repeatedly asked the Administration to outline the scientific reasons why Yucca Mountain should no longer be our national repository. The absence of a response is just further indication that this reckless decision is based purely on a political desire to help an embattled Senate Democrat Leader.
"Rather than moving Yucca Mountain forward as called for under the law, the Obama Administration has wasted the past year dodging questions, stalling and naming members to a duplicative commission through a closed-door process.
"Decades and billions of dollars have already been spent on scientific studies to determine the best solution for spent nuclear fuel and defense wastes. After narrowing it down to Yucca Mountain, Hanford and Deaf Smith County in Texas a determination was made and the licensing process for Yucca Mountain moved forward.
"A unilateral decision to abandon Yucca Mountain without any justification and blocking it from ever being considered in the future is simply indefensible. Under the law, Yucca Mountain remains the national repository. No Administration is above the law and I fully support Attorney General McKenna's legal action to intervene."
The following information was released by the office of Washington Rep. Doc Hastings:
"As recently as February 16th, President Obama signaled a 'commitment to jumpstarting the nation's nuclear power industry.' Not only does today's action by the Administration fly in the face of this commitment, it also means that high-level defense nuclear waste at Hanford will remain in our state longer.
"While Congress may be limited by the Administration's decision to reprogram $115 million and put it towards termination of Yucca Mountain, I am committed to pursuing any and all legislative options that will ensure that Yucca mountain remains viable and is not sacrificed for election year politics.
"Washington is home to more of the federal government's defense nuclear waste than any other state and that waste is slated to be shipped out of our state to Yucca Mountain for permanent storage. Here at Hanford, the Waste Treatment Plant and the glass it will produce have been designed to meet standards that are specific to the Yucca Mountain repository. Taking Yucca Mountain off the table raises real questions about potential impacts on the Waste Treatment Plant and the cost of the additional interim storage that will be required. These are questions that deserve to be fully and publically answered before any irreversible action is taken.
"I have repeatedly asked the Administration to outline the scientific reasons why Yucca Mountain should no longer be our national repository. The absence of a response is just further indication that this reckless decision is based purely on a political desire to help an embattled Senate Democrat Leader.
"Rather than moving Yucca Mountain forward as called for under the law, the Obama Administration has wasted the past year dodging questions, stalling and naming members to a duplicative commission through a closed-door process.
"Decades and billions of dollars have already been spent on scientific studies to determine the best solution for spent nuclear fuel and defense wastes. After narrowing it down to Yucca Mountain, Hanford and Deaf Smith County in Texas a determination was made and the licensing process for Yucca Mountain moved forward.
"A unilateral decision to abandon Yucca Mountain without any justification and blocking it from ever being considered in the future is simply indefensible. Under the law, Yucca Mountain remains the national repository. No Administration is above the law and I fully support Attorney General McKenna's legal action to intervene."
LACK OF CONSISTENT NUCLEAR POLICY HURTS IDAHO AND AMERICA
3 March 2010/States News Service/SNS/English
(c) 2010 States News Service
The following information was released by Idaho Sen. James E. Risch:
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today filed a request with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to withdraw with prejudice the application for the Yucca Mountain Repository. The decision, if approved with prejudice, would prohibit the site from ever being considered as a destination for the nation's nuclear waste and spent fuel.
"This decision is a slap in the face to the millions of American nuclear energy consumers who have waited 30 years and paid more than $16 billion to study and construct a repository at Yucca Mountain," said Senator Jim Risch, ranking Republican on the Senate Energy Subcommittee. "Yucca is one of the most studied pieces of ground on the planet and dozens of scientific studies over the past decade have clearly shown it is the best place to store nuclear waste."
The decision is of particular interest to Idaho since the Department of Energy has a binding contract with the state to remove all nuclear waste material from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) by 2035. Risch questioned Chu on that issue during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in 2009.
"Last March, Secretary Chu acknowledged the urgency of solving the nuclear waste storage issue and that no viable alternative to Yucca was on the table. A year later, the administration is pulling the application back without providing any scientific or legal justification and more importantly with no alternative.
"The decision is especially disappointing given President Obama's recent announcement of loan guarantees for two new reactors. His about-face demonstrates he is not serious about doing what is necessary to create a nuclear renaissance in the United States. Unfortunately, it appears politics is pushing a decision that will perpetuate bad policies, harm our economy and force the federal government to breach its contract with the state of Idaho."
03/03/10 18:30:03
(c) 2010 States News Service
The following information was released by Idaho Sen. James E. Risch:
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today filed a request with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to withdraw with prejudice the application for the Yucca Mountain Repository. The decision, if approved with prejudice, would prohibit the site from ever being considered as a destination for the nation's nuclear waste and spent fuel.
"This decision is a slap in the face to the millions of American nuclear energy consumers who have waited 30 years and paid more than $16 billion to study and construct a repository at Yucca Mountain," said Senator Jim Risch, ranking Republican on the Senate Energy Subcommittee. "Yucca is one of the most studied pieces of ground on the planet and dozens of scientific studies over the past decade have clearly shown it is the best place to store nuclear waste."
The decision is of particular interest to Idaho since the Department of Energy has a binding contract with the state to remove all nuclear waste material from the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) by 2035. Risch questioned Chu on that issue during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in 2009.
"Last March, Secretary Chu acknowledged the urgency of solving the nuclear waste storage issue and that no viable alternative to Yucca was on the table. A year later, the administration is pulling the application back without providing any scientific or legal justification and more importantly with no alternative.
"The decision is especially disappointing given President Obama's recent announcement of loan guarantees for two new reactors. His about-face demonstrates he is not serious about doing what is necessary to create a nuclear renaissance in the United States. Unfortunately, it appears politics is pushing a decision that will perpetuate bad policies, harm our economy and force the federal government to breach its contract with the state of Idaho."
03/03/10 18:30:03
US Energy Dept Files Motion To Withdraw Yucca Mountain License Application
/Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES/170 words/3 March 2010/16:55/Dow Jones News Service/DJ/English/(c) 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The U.S. Energy Department on Wednesday filed to withdraw an application for a nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain, formally seeking to reverse a Bush administration policy.
The Obama administration's Energy Department has said that it hopes to develop a new plan for long-term disposal of nuclear waste. The Energy Department has established a blue-ribbon panel to make recommendations.
The application has been pending with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission since June 2008, when the Bush administration applied for a license for the first national repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency later set radiation standards for the proposed facility, and the government awarded a $2.5 billion contract to a URS Corp. (URS) unit to manage the facility.-By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654; siobhan.hughes@dowjones.com [ 03-03-10 1821ET ]
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The U.S. Energy Department on Wednesday filed to withdraw an application for a nuclear-waste repository at Yucca Mountain, formally seeking to reverse a Bush administration policy.
The Obama administration's Energy Department has said that it hopes to develop a new plan for long-term disposal of nuclear waste. The Energy Department has established a blue-ribbon panel to make recommendations.
The application has been pending with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission since June 2008, when the Bush administration applied for a license for the first national repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency later set radiation standards for the proposed facility, and the government awarded a $2.5 billion contract to a URS Corp. (URS) unit to manage the facility.-By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654; siobhan.hughes@dowjones.com [ 03-03-10 1821ET ]
HANFORD/YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Senator Murray Blasts Energy Secretary, Obama Administration on Decision to Withdraw Yucca as Nuclear Repository
HANFORD/YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Senator Murray Blasts Energy Secretary, Obama Administration on Decision to Withdraw Yucca as Nuclear Repository
Youtube video available at http://murray.senate.gov/
At Energy Appropriations hearing, Murray tells Energy Secretary Chu that decision is irresponsible, goes back on 30 years of work; demands detailed impact analysis of how decision could affect Hanford community
For Immediate Release: Thursday, March 4, 2010
Listen - Senator Murray questions Secretary Chu
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), angered by recent decisions by the Department of Energy to not consider Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a national nuclear repository, called on Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Dr. Steven Chu to provide real scientific evidence for the Obama Administration’s decision. At a hearing of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Committee, Murray repeatedly asked Chu for the scientific basis for the decision, sought explanations on whether the communities involved in cleanup efforts had been consulted in the decision, and pointed to the tremendous amount of work that has already been done to make Yucca Mountain the nation’s repository.
“Over the last 30 years, Congress, independent studies, and previous administrations have all pointed to, voted for, and funded Yucca Mountain as the nation’s best option for a nuclear repository,” Murray said at today’s hearing. “And in concert with those decisions, billions of dollars and countless work hours have been spent at Hanford and nuclear waste sites across the country in an effort to treat and package nuclear waste that will be sent there. Without a repository, those sites and the communities that support them have been left in limbo.”
Under questioning Secretary Chu admitted that none of the nuclear cleanup sites or surrounding communities had been consulted in DOE’s decision. He also strained to provide any scientific rationale for the administration’s push to take Yucca off the table. Murray cautioned that the decisions must be based on science.
“I believe that it is irresponsible for the Department of Energy to discontinue the Yucca program altogether, its funding, licensing and design,” Murray said. “I believe that this has to be a decision that should be based on science and the moral responsibility we have to clean up this waste. We can’t just unilaterally take one site out of the equation.”
Senator Murray believes Yucca Mountain needs to move forward and in 2002 voted to pass a resolution in the Senate approving Yucca Mountain as a national nuclear waste repository.
CLEANUP FUNDING
Senator Murray also pressed Secretary Chu on providing clear, consistent, and sufficient budgets for Hanford clean-up. Murray noted how early news reports had said that EM funding would be cut by $1 billion dollars in the upcoming year before action was taken to restore the cuts. She also noted her frustration with a $50 million shortfall for groundwater cleanup.
These budgets budgets aren’t put together just by wishing or magic. DOE works with the regulators, they work with communities, they agree on milestones,” Murray said. “We have got to have a government that backs up its promises and commitments with real money.”
Youtube video available at http://murray.senate.gov/
At Energy Appropriations hearing, Murray tells Energy Secretary Chu that decision is irresponsible, goes back on 30 years of work; demands detailed impact analysis of how decision could affect Hanford community
For Immediate Release: Thursday, March 4, 2010
Listen - Senator Murray questions Secretary Chu
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), angered by recent decisions by the Department of Energy to not consider Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a national nuclear repository, called on Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Dr. Steven Chu to provide real scientific evidence for the Obama Administration’s decision. At a hearing of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Committee, Murray repeatedly asked Chu for the scientific basis for the decision, sought explanations on whether the communities involved in cleanup efforts had been consulted in the decision, and pointed to the tremendous amount of work that has already been done to make Yucca Mountain the nation’s repository.
“Over the last 30 years, Congress, independent studies, and previous administrations have all pointed to, voted for, and funded Yucca Mountain as the nation’s best option for a nuclear repository,” Murray said at today’s hearing. “And in concert with those decisions, billions of dollars and countless work hours have been spent at Hanford and nuclear waste sites across the country in an effort to treat and package nuclear waste that will be sent there. Without a repository, those sites and the communities that support them have been left in limbo.”
Under questioning Secretary Chu admitted that none of the nuclear cleanup sites or surrounding communities had been consulted in DOE’s decision. He also strained to provide any scientific rationale for the administration’s push to take Yucca off the table. Murray cautioned that the decisions must be based on science.
“I believe that it is irresponsible for the Department of Energy to discontinue the Yucca program altogether, its funding, licensing and design,” Murray said. “I believe that this has to be a decision that should be based on science and the moral responsibility we have to clean up this waste. We can’t just unilaterally take one site out of the equation.”
Senator Murray believes Yucca Mountain needs to move forward and in 2002 voted to pass a resolution in the Senate approving Yucca Mountain as a national nuclear waste repository.
CLEANUP FUNDING
Senator Murray also pressed Secretary Chu on providing clear, consistent, and sufficient budgets for Hanford clean-up. Murray noted how early news reports had said that EM funding would be cut by $1 billion dollars in the upcoming year before action was taken to restore the cuts. She also noted her frustration with a $50 million shortfall for groundwater cleanup.
These budgets budgets aren’t put together just by wishing or magic. DOE works with the regulators, they work with communities, they agree on milestones,” Murray said. “We have got to have a government that backs up its promises and commitments with real money.”