Yucca Mountain plan called political

Thursday, June 26, 1997 | 11:48 a.m.

That's the view of Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency.

Loux, who is leading the state's fight to prevent a nuclear waste dump in Nevada, says the viability assessment is intended to "shoehorn the White House" into supporting legislation for the temporary dump.

Current legislation seeks to set up a temporary nuclear waste storage dump at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, until a permanent site is established.

Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site currently being studied for permanent storage of radioactive waste from the nation's nuclear power plants.

The Clinton administration's acceptance of the viability assessment would "make Yucca Mountain a done deal," Loux told a meeting of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. The presidential panel reviews and monitors the Energy Department's efforts to determine if Yucca Mountain is suitable as a high-level nuclear waste dump.

Loux said the assessment could persuade the White House to agree to legislation that would allow the waste to be hauled to the test site for temporary storage above ground near Yucca Mountain until a permanent facility is built.

Then, he said, under the viability assessment plan, the Energy Department could load and operate an unlicensed repository inside Yucca Mountain for more than 100 years.

Lake Barrett, acting director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, said the viability assessment document is an analysis of building a high-level radioactive waste repository from a scientific and engineering perspective.

"I do not believe it is a political document," he told the panel. "It will be used by politicians. Bob (Loux) is correct that it is a stepping stone to a political decision."