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Published Tuesday, May 27, 2008 | 1:35 p.m.
Updated Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2008 | 10:15 a.m.
WASHINGTON — Yucca Mountain dropped back into the presidential race today when Sen. John McCain suggested the planned nuclear waste dump outside of Las Vegas may not be needed after all.
Among the remaining presidential contenders, McCain has been the lone supporter of Yucca Mountain, making him the odd candidate out among Nevadans who overwhelmingly oppose the repository. Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have both assured Nevada they would oppose the dump.
But in a talk on nuclear security at the University of Denver, McCain offered another approach as part of global efforts to watchdog civilian nuclear power:
“I would seek to establish an international repository for spent nuclear fuel that could collect and safely store materials overseas that might otherwise be reprocessed to acquire bomb-grade materials. It is even possible that such an international center could make it unnecessary to open the proposed spent nuclear fuel storage facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.”
Up in Reno, the Gazette-Journal’s Anjeanette Damon was among the first to nab McCain’s prepared comments this morning with this entry. She notes: “In his last visit to Nevada, a Vegas fundraiser in March, McCain began using the George W. Bush line about relying on science to determine if the site is safe. The international repository line is new for McCain.”
Here in Washington, McCain’s comments did not go unnoticed by the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s main lobbying arm, which offered this headline: “McCain proposes alternative to Yucca Mountain.” Read the blog entry here.
McCain’s comments came as Nevada officials held an anti-Yucca Mountain rally today in Las Vegas – a piece de resistance in advance of the Energy department’s plans to file the long-awaited application to license the dump as early as next week.
Sen. Harry Reid took the opportunity to blast the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, telling reporters afterward that McCain’s idea was a “phony deal” and his comments were a naked political power play. “He knows Nevada is a battleground state,” Reid said. “And he’s trying to waffle.”
Reid added: “If he’s opposed to Yucca Mountain, why doesn’t he just come out and oppose it? He’s afraid to.”
In brief remarks to about 60 people gathered at the Clark County amphitheatre, Reid called on the crowd to hold McCain accountable.
“John McCain has voted every opportunity he’s had in favor of Yucca Mountain,” he said. “He’s still in favor of Yucca Mountain. John McCain is on the wrong side of that issue.”
Rep. Jon Porter, facing a re-election challenge in a district that has turned increasingly Democratic, pivoted away from McCain and Republican leadership in comments to reporters after the event, citing his introduction of an amendment that would have cut funding for the project. “Sen. McCain has been very clear on his position. ... I don’t agree with him. He’s wrong and I’ve told him that. But at least his record is clear.”
Porter said Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama had not done enough to cut off funding for Yucca. “They’re giving us lip service,” he said. “If they were serious, they’d be helping Sen. Reid.”
Porter’s challenger, state Sen. Dina Titus, attended the event but did not speak.
Mascaro reported from Washington, Mishak from Las Vegas.
I love it when McCain panders for votes. This guy can't have an opinion that is pegged down on anything. He wants Yucca, now he says maybe not.... he was against the war, now for the war, now wants to be there 100 years. His wife will never release her tax returns, now she has released her 2006 tax returns.
What would we get if McCain were elected??? Hell if anyone relaly knows.
This sounds like the same pandering George W. gave Nevada back in 2000. Fat lot of good that did us.
Johnny Mac should straight up commit to this — up or down, not halfway in between. Otherwise we're getting the same script we got 8 years ago.
Nevada has no greater enemy in national politics (Yucca, gambling, "pork" that delivers transportation projects to the West). Next he'll be saying he understands Western issues better than anyone.
I smell a rat. Rory and Harry Reid did this deal today in LV for Clinton to upstage Barack Obama's visit.
No country has built an operational nuclear waste repository because of adverse public opinion each time one is proposed. There is however – per the following - broad global support for the subductive waste disposal method which is considered by many the state-of-the-art and most viable solution to the problem of nuclear waste and proliferation which was the topic of Senator McCain's speech.
The University of Utah Center for Public Policy and Administration stated in a December 12, 2005, article “Nuclear Waste Summary” “The subductive waste disposal method is the most viable means of disposing of radioactive waste. Subduction refers to a process in which one tectonic plate slides beneath another while being reabsorbed into the Earth's mantle. The Subductive Waste Disposal Method involves the formation of a radioactive waste repository in a subducting plate where the waste will be absorbed along with the plate and dispersed through the mantle. The most accessible site is on the ocean floor at a point above where subducting plates meet and, once filled, the repositories would be virtually inaccessible. This method would prevent radioactive waste from mixing with the water table, provide inaccessibility to eliminated weapons material, remove radioactive waste completely from its threatening position, and be safe for marine life."
In the December 25, 2001 Current Science article, Radioactive waste: The problem and its management, K. R. Rao declares the Subductive Waste Disposal Method "is the state-of-the-art in nuclear waste disposal technology. It is the single viable means of disposing radioactive waste that ensures non return of the relegated material to the biosphere. At the same time, it affords inaccessibility to eliminated weapons material. The principle involved is the removal of the material from the biosphere faster than it can return. It is considered that 'the safest, the most sensible, the most economical, the most stable long-term, the most environmentally benign, the most utterly obvious places to get rid of nuclear waste, high-level waste or low-level waste is in the deep oceans that cover 70% of the planet".
The subductive waste disposal method affords the cost, safety, security and non-proliferation benefits of an international repository the IAEA Director General and now Senator McCain have espoused. Unfortunately this solution has been suppressed from its inception on the fallacious grounds it is barred by international agreement.
The London Dumping Convention does not proscribed sub-seabed repositories accessed from land.
Who is pandering and who is placing the future well being of mankind at risk by the suppressing the solution to the two existential threats - proliferation and global warming - we face?
Jim Baird
Subductive Waste Disposal Method
www3.telus.net/subductionservices