Thursday, June 19, 2008 | 11:37 p.m.
WASHINGTON — The only indication that today was a special day at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was the long line of people trying to get inside the towering headquarters, situated out in the suburbs.
The compound has especially tight security, even by Washington standards.
Still, the Energy Department’s formal presentation of its long-awaited Yucca Mountain application drew a crowd. Guards were processing visitor passes. People were late.
“I’ve been waiting 40 years for this meeting,” shrugged one guy in line. A few more minutes wouldn’t matter.
“I’ve only been waiting 30,” offered another.
The actual presentation of the application for the nuclear waste repository 90 miles outside of Las Vegas had a tough time living up to the hype. There was lots of technical house-cleaning about which documents could be found where, and how the thousands of pages were organized.
Even the high-tech hook-up with Las Vegas, which linked the meeting by sight and sound, was a little fuzzy. You couldn’t quite make from this end out who was watching from the desert.
The Energy Department’s project director, Edward “Ward” Sproat, summed up what some of the couple hundred gathered probably felt when he said many in the room had been working on Yucca Mountain “for a long time.”
“Many of whom probably felt they’d never see this day come,” he added.
Among those participating were Nevada’s representatives, who are fighting the project, a representative from Clark County and former Gov. Bob List, who is representing four rural counties just north of the site.
List had drawn some criticism in Nevada a few years ago when he went to work for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the main industry lobbying promoting Yucca Mountain. But he said Thursday they dropped his contract in December, and now he represents the rural counties who want to be environmentally protected but who are also interested in economic development possibilities if Yucca Mountain goes forward.
“This day’s been a long time coming,” List said. “I think everybody wants to get an answer on this.”
The state, however, has questions.
(Quick primer: Yucca Mountain was chosen as the nation’s nuclear waste dump 20 years ago. It was supposed to open in 1998, but is now slated to open by 2017. Supporters say the country needs a central waste storage facility. Opponents worry the government plan will pollute Nevada with toxic waste. So far, $9 billion has been spent.)
Martin G. Malsch, the state’s lead attorney fighting the process, posed one simple question early during the proceeding.
The state is concerned because the Energy Department offered 196 supporting items, but refused to formally submit them as part of the license.
Leaving the items in a gray zone puts the state in a tough spot, creating a bit of a moving target as it tries to argue against the license.
“The most fundamental question we face is what is the license application?” Malsch asked the gathering. “The answer to that question is very important to us.”
The question led to some scrambling among officials at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the government agency that will decide by Labor Day whether the application can be accepted for formal review – which could then take up to four years.
They’re answer: They couldn’t immediately respond.
The presentation continues tomorrow.
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