Abraham: No Yucca decision

Thursday, Dec. 13, 2001 | 10:57 a.m.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Wednesday that he has not decided whether to choose Yucca Mountain as the nation's only nuclear waste repository and has not set a deadline for when he would make that decision.

Nevada officials have criticized Abraham for planning to recommend the site to President Bush before scientific studies of the Yucca's suitability as a repository are complete.

That recommendation is widely expected to come in the next few weeks, both nuclear power and Nevada officials say.

"I have not made a decision on Yucca Mountain, and any decision I make will be made on a thorough and comprehensive review," Abraham said during a last-minute visit to Cashman Center for the last of more than 50 public hearings about the project held throughout the state this year.

Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was singled out by Congress in 1987 as the only location for the Energy Department to study as a potential repository for 77,000 tons of the nation's nuclear waste. The DOE began studying the site in 1982.

The results of more than 18 years of scientific studies and the accompanying public comment are important elements in deciding whether to choose Yucca, Abraham said.

"Their (public) comments will be a critical part of the review," Abraham said after listening to 41 speakers, ranging from Indian opponents to industry supporters. The public comment period -- the DOE began taking comments in May -- ends Friday.

Yucca Mountain must pass two tests before Abraham reaches a conclusion: the suitability or safety of the site and whether the project is "justified by a compelling national interest," he said.

"That's the duty I have to taxpayers who have paid billions of dollars, as well as ratepayers," Abraham said.

The DOE has so far spent $8 billion studying Yucca Mountain. Another $11 billion remains in a fund made up of a fee charged to nuclear power customers, or ratepayers.

"At the end of the day I want the people of Nevada to know that we will not move forward unless I believe we can meet the strict (radiation exposure) standards," he said.

Nevada's top elected officials were caught off guard by Abraham's unexpected appearance. Abraham, who spoke about 10 minutes but did not take questions from the public, said he decided to attend Wednesday's meeting late Tuesday night.

Gov. Kenny Guinn had already made plans to spend the day at Hoover Dam with Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

"We were not apprised of this," Guinn's press secretary Greg Bortolin said, adding that the governor was upset by the lack of notification.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., John Ensign, R-Nev., Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., also were unaware of Abraham's decision to attend. Nevada officials had asked Abraham to attend a Sept. 5 hearing in North Las Vegas, which attracted more than 500 people. Of those, 400 spoke on the project.

However, the DOE was criticized for the hearings because six out of the first nine speakers on Sept. 5 represented the nuclear industry. Consequently, it was 10 p.m. before members of the public had an opportunity to speak.

Berkley was upset by Abraham's surprise appearance Wednesday.

"This was not a hearing, but a setup," Berkley said. "This was a sham and insulting to the people of our state. If the secretary of energy is going to sneak into town like some kind of fugitive, he is never going to have to hear the real concerns of the people of Nevada.

"The administration is being disingenuous to the people of Southern Nevada if they claim tonight that they are taking this process seriously," Berkley said in a prepared statement. "In reality, this was a PR stunt designed to silence the people of our state."

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who was notified of the secretary's presence just five minutes before the mayor strode to the podium, told Abraham that the city would sue the DOE if a repository at Yucca Mountain is approved.

"Being a lawyer and a gambling man, I have the advantage," the mayor, who has represented mob figures in court, said.

"I got a little screw loose up here," Goodman said, pointing to his forehead. "They don't know where I'm coming from."

Goodman said drivers hauling nuclear waste, whether on trucks or trains, face six months in jail and $1,000 fines if they transport even one of the estimated 100,000 shipments -- over 24 years -- of spent fuel through the city.

Trucks hauling waste to Yucca would pass through the Spaghetti Bowl, the intersection of Interstate 15 and U.S. 95, a major crossroads through Las Vegas.

"Every elected official should be here and look this man (Abraham) in the eye and tell him just as I did, that it is a disaster," Goodman said.

A Yucca Mountain repository, said Goodman, was a "disaster" before Sept. 11. Since the terrorist attacks, he said, "we learned we are not safe in our native land. Not only will we be targeted by these evil people, but thousands of people around the country who don't know what Yucca Mountain is are at risk."

Proponents of the repository tell another story.

Retired health physicist Bill Phillips of Las Vegas said it was time for the DOE to build the repository, despite a recent General Accounting Office report that says 293 outstanding technical issues should be resolved before the site is recommended by the secretary.

Phillips said the DOE should base its decision on scientific evidence already gathered and should pay little attention to public opinion polls that show more than 80 percent of Nevada residents oppose the Yucca repository. Phillips said more than 70 percent of the state's population is "technically illiterate."

The comment brought a collective gasp from the audience.

Two out of three people who attended Wednesday's meeting were DOE employees or represented nuclear interests, according to an informal count. Yucca proponents included former Gov. Bob List, a Nuclear Energy Institute consultant, and Steve Kraft, an NEI executive.

"We believe the facts overwhelmingly support the site," Kraft said, adding that Nye County -- the site of the mountain -- could gain 2,000 jobs if the repository is built. It may be "the only contribution to that region's economy," he said.

List said a repository could create "a ripple effect ... spreading throughout the state of Nevada to everyone's benefit."

Goodman snorted, "That's what prostitutes tell you, even if they have venereal disease."

Las Vegas resident Nick Christensen was equally blunt. "The department which you head is ignorant," he told Abraham.

The DOE, just as people who have not lived in the desert, often see the area as barren and a suitable place to dump unwanted material.

"In truth, the Department of Energy has no vision," he said. "It could become a larger wasteland than the Department of Energy sees it now."

Christensen referred to media reports concerning the potential for terrorists to produce and employ a "dirty bomb" -- an explosive device made with radioactive materials.

"Trucks and trains will be terrorist targets," he said. "If Osama bin Laden wants a dirty bomb, he's got thousands if this opens."

Diana Roth, a 30-year Las Vegas resident, said Midwestern farmers often use outhouses to dispose of waste. The DOE is "using Yucca Mountain as an outhouse, and my vote is no," she said.

Moapa Paiute Indian Tribal Chairman Calvin Meyers said the DOE has not notified the tribe regarding its actions at Yucca Mountain, although American Indian tribes are considered sovereign nations according to nuclear waste management laws.

"The only thing the DOE has offered us is to run over us with its (nuclear waste) casks," Meyers said, reciting a short prayer to protect people from radiation that escapes a future repository. "I'm not educated. My education comes from the streets. I read. I am not stupid."

After Abraham presents his decision on Yucca to President Bush, the repository issue will head to Congress. Nevada then may veto the decision. Congress, by a simple majority, can override that veto.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., has vowed that as long as the Senate remains in the hands of Democrats, Yucca Mountain will not open.

The public comment period closes Friday at 5 p.m. Written comments should be addressed to Carol Hanlon, U.S. Department of Energy, Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office (M/S #025), P.O. Box 364629, North Las Vegas, NV, 89036-8629.

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