Yucca health, safety studies sought

Thursday, Dec. 20, 2001 | 10:17 a.m.

Federal scientists studying Yucca Mountain have left many gaps in their research as it relates to the health and safety of nearby residents and, as a consequence, the Department of Energy should continue researching the site, Nevada's geologist said.

A panel representing the National Academy of Sciences on Wednesday listened to a report from state geologist Jonathan Price regarding a lack of evidence pointing to the safety of a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

Extensive research on geology and ground water near Yucca Mountain has been conducted at Nevada universities, Price said, but monitoring the health of the public, as well as repository workers, is essential.

The DOE needs to study people 12 miles away in Amargosa Valley and as far as 90 miles away in Las Vegas to determine their current state of health and monitor potential problems after the waste is shipped to the site, Price said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board have recently criticized the DOE for proceeding with plans for a repository, as nearly 300 technical issues remain unanswered.

The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, in a recently released report urged the DOE to indefintely postpone plans for the nuclear waste site.

Questions about earthquake activity, a possible volcano under Yucca Mountain, how fast water flows through fractures in the proposed repository's rock and the potential for radioactive gas escaping from buried waste in the tunnels have yet to be answered by the Energy Department, Price said Wednesday.

"There are a lot of things we don't completely understand in the Yucca Mountain area," Price told the panel, which is proposing a deliberate, step-by-step construction process should the repository be built.

Nevada, which opposes the repository, earlier this week sued the DOE in an effort to prevent Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham from even recommending the site to President Bush.

Abraham Van Luik, a DOE technical adviser to Yucca Mountain, said federal scientists believe they can make an argument in favor of the repository. "We believe the nation can be confident in the safety of a repository," he said.

But the public will not be able to read the scientific basis for DOE's stance until Yucca is recommended, Van Luik said.

"It's very possible Yucca Mountain could be the death of geological repositories in the United States," said Judy Treichel, executive director of the Nuclear Waste Task Force, a citizen watchdog organization. Treichel also said that putting nuclear waste on top of the mountain while the DOE builds a repository in stages does not prove the site safe.

More than $8 billion has been spent by the DOE to study the mountain during the past 15 years.

The academy's National Research Council committee is expected to complete its final report on Yucca Mountain in November 2002.