DOE won’t wait for Yucca water report

Thursday, Jan. 27, 2000 | 10:58 a.m.

The Department of Energy plans to publicize its scientific case for a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain sometime this fall, months before independent research concludes whether or not the repository site is in danger from ground water.

Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site being considered for the nation's first dump for 77,000 tons of radioactive waste from commercial nuclear power plants and defense activities. The DOE's deadline for opening a Yucca repository is 2010. It plans to apply for a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2003.

UNLV geologist Jean Cline expects to have the work of her independent scientific team ready by April 2001. That research aims to answer a crucial question that was raised when tiny air and water bubbles were found in the rock of Yucca Mountain. The question is how long ago water entered the mountain.

Ground water flowing through or rising to the level of the repository could corrode containers holding the nuclear waste, allowing radioactivity to leak.

The scientists have collected 151 slices of Yucca that could tell them when water invaded the mountain, Cline told an independent review board Wednesday. Of those samples, 44 percent, or 66 slices, contain evidence of heated water, which could indicate geothermal or volcanic activity sometime in Yucca Mountain's history.

The U.S. Geological Survey and the state's Russian consultant, Yuri Dublyansky, are working with Cline on her two-year independent review.

The DOE maintains that the evidence of water was left 12 million years ago when the mountain formed from nearby volcanic eruptions. If that is the case, most scientists agree that a repository built now would not be endangered by water leaks in its 10,000-year lifespan.

Scientists believe if the evidence shows that water was present in the mountain as recently as 11,000 years ago, water could present a danger to nuclear waste buried there.

The U.S. Geological Survey is conducting a parallel study of the evidence of water, USGS team chief Zell Peterman said.

Its research so far, Peterman said, shows that the water was present millions of year ago.

Cline emphasized that it is too early to draw conclusions from her work. Early results of her work are expected at a national geological meeting in Reno this fall.

The lone voice of former DOE geologist Jerry Szymanski, speaking on behalf of Nevada's Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, asked the review board at the end of its meeting to delay any decision on a repository at Yucca until Cline's study is complete.

"It is our view that the DOE has no business, whatsoever, to travel and inform the country ... until this question is resolved," Szymanski said.

Review Board Chairman Jared Cohon, a water expert and president of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said the board would review the attorney general's arguments and evidence.

Cohon praised Cline's plan for her analysis, and review board member Richard Parizek said Cline's study appeared thorough and could answer many questions. "It is very carefully laid out," he said.