State favorable toward DOE request for Yucca water-use permit

Tuesday, Nov. 9, 1999 | 11:15 a.m.

Enough water is available under the ground surrounding Yucca Mountain to support the operation of a high-level nuclear waste repository, according to State Engineer Michael Turnipseed.

In addition, the DOE's request to use 430 acre feet of ground water to supply crews during construction and operation of the repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas does not infringe upon any existing water uses, such as irrigation, mining or grazing, Turnipseed said Monday as two weeks of hearings began in Las Vegas on the request.

The finding means that the DOE will probably be able to obtain a ground water use permit for the Yucca project, and opponents of the nuclear waste dump will lose another method of blocking or delaying the operation.

As for whether escaped radioactive waste will contaminate Nevada's ground water, that battle is left to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Turnipseed said.

That left Nevada officials who are fighting to keep the U.S. Department of Energy from building the world's first nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain relying on another argument to block permission to use the state's ground water -- public fear.

"In the immortal words of Mark Twain, whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over, and we are here today to fight for our lives," Deputy Attorney General Marta Adams said Monday.

Yucca Mountain is the only site under study by the DOE as a proposed repository for 70,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from the nation's nuclear power plants and 7,000 tons of defense-related nuclear waste. If it passes scientific muster and gets approval from the president and Congress, it would open about 2010. It also would need a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as well as state approval to use the ground water.

If it gets permission to move ahead, the DOE plans to begin filling the repository as it is building, said Wendy Dixon, the DOE's manager in charge of environmental impacts from the project. It will gradually build tunnels and caverns to bury the wastes in Yucca Mountain.

"But a number of steps are necessary between opening a repository and accepting waste, including an NRC license," Dixon said, before bolting from the witness chair before Turnipseed had dismissed her.

DOE attorney Brent Kolvet argued that the state has approved countless permanent water rights for building projects and that the federal request is typical. The DOE has temporary water rights until 2002.

But over continuous DOE objections to state witnesses, a parade of social scientists said the complex technical project could do great harm to Nevada. They presented some of more than 200 published articles that show catastrophe for state residents, the more than 30 million tourists a year and the state's No. 1 industry -- gaming -- if Yucca opens.

James Chalmers of Tempe, Ariz., said that while a five-year building project at Yucca Mountain could initially add 15,000 construction workers, operating the repository requires less than 4,000 staffers over 30 years. That employment drop would harm the state's economy.

Another study of economic impacts showed that for every 5 percent drop in tourism because of stigma from Yucca, 35,000 workers in major hotels would lose their jobs if a high-level nuclear waste repository opens, Chalmers said.

"For the state, this project is a gamble or a bet and a very bad one," he said.

The worst news came after a series of studies showed that the term, "nuclear waste repository" drew expressions from 3,300 people nationwide such as "dangerous," "toxic," "death," "bad" and "scary."

"This was the first word they responded with when 'nuclear waste repository' was said," researcher James Flynn of Eugene, Ore., said. "This was one of the most benign descriptions of the Yucca Mountain project we could find. The response surprised us."

Alvin Mushkatel of Scottsdale, Ariz., said a study on negative impacts from a repository showed that 89 percent of Nevada's residents were aware of the Yucca Mountain project and registered a negative attitude toward a repository, higher than the researchers expected. In addition to fearing for their health and safety, residents believed property values would decline due to transporting the waste near their homes.