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