Tighter radiation limits urged

Thursday, Feb. 15, 2001 | 11:28 a.m.

Nevada's senators, governor and a dozen consumer and environmental groups are urging President Bush to keep stricter limits on radiation exposure at a proposed high-level nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain.

As a 30-day review of 11th-hour Clinton administration regulations nears an end, Bush on Wednesday was asked to protect public health by applying tighter standards to a repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The mountain is the only site under study as a potential dump for highly radioactive wastes.

The Clinton administration signed a regulation on Dec. 8 under the Safe Drinking Water Act that would require drinking water supplies to be free of all radiation.

The Bush administration, when it took over Jan. 20, suspended all recent Clinton regulations for a 30-day review. The review is due to end Tuesday.

The freeze included a proposal by the Environmental Protection Agency for limits on radiation exposure from a Yucca Mountain repository.

The EPA offered an annual 15 millirem total limit, with 4 millirems allowed in ground water. A typical chest X-ray can range between 5 and 10 millirems.

The Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will license a repository, prefer a 25 millirem-per-year limit without a stricter limit on ground water. That standard is under review.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., Gov. Kenny Guinn and the groups are asking Bush not only to keep the stricter drinking water standards, but also to apply them to Yucca Mountain, a rule that would be tighter than both the EPA and NRC standards.

They also want Bush to require that the ground water be measured for contamination at the edge of the repository, another tighter restriction. The repository boundary has not yet been defined, but the EPA proposal would measure between 12 and 20 miles away from the repository for contamination. The closest community, Amargosa Valley, is 12 miles away.

Guinn said he had received assurances from Bush that radiation-protection standards would not be lowered or transferred to other agencies. The governor hopes to meet with Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham later this month.

"I have every confidence this administration will follow through on promises made during the campaign to let the Environmental Protection Agency set those standards," Ensign said.

Reid called for a veto if needed.

"Last year, it required a presidential veto to stop efforts to strip away the role of the Environmental Protection Agency in establishing radiation standards for Yucca Mountain," Reid said. "I would hope the new administration will pledge to do the same if required."

The environmental groups want the strongest possible limits so radiation will not escape the mountain for the entire time that the wastes will be radioactive, said Kalynda Tilges, nuclear issues coordinator for Citizen Alert, a statewide environmental watchdog group.

The groups include Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Public Citizen, Sierra Club, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Women's Action for New Directions, Women's Legislative Lobby, Citizen Alert, Healing Ourselves and Mother Earth, Nevada Desert Experience, Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force and the local Sierra Club.