Panel sees no need to rush in building nuclear dump

Thursday, June 7, 2001 | 11:42 a.m.

Deep geological disposal of high-level nuclear waste, such as a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, is a long-term goal, but radioactive waste can be temporarily stored, an international scientific panel concluded.

Most current surface storage sites are intended to keep waste safe for 50 to 100 years, the 12-member National Research Council committee said in a report released on Wednesday.

"However, they could be a feasible waste management option for even longer," the panel's report said of keeping radioactive waste in pools of water or in dry cask storage containers above ground.

The panel concluded that there is no need to rush building permanent disposal sites as long as the waste is managed responsibly under safe and secure conditions, but the only long-term solution to radioactive waste is deep geological disposal.

Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site being studied for such long-term geological storage. If it is approved as a site for a repository, it would hold 77,000 tons of commercial and defense nuclear waste for up to 10,000 years.

The biggest obstacle to burying nuclear waste from commercial reactors and defense activities is public opposition, the report noted. Nevada officials and residents are vehemently opposed to the Department of Energy's plans for a repository.

"Difficulties in garnering public support have been seriously underestimated, and opportunities to increase public involvement and to gain trust have been missed," said committee Chairman D. Warner North, president of NorthWorks, Inc., Belmont, Calif.

"Waste management programs around the globe should direct their efforts beyond technical development to emphasize public participation in the decision-making process," North said.

Committee member Jane C.S. Long, dean of the Mackay School of Mines at the University of Nevada, Reno, agreed with North's assessment.

"There's been a significant lack of concern in paying attention to public participation," she said.

The committee report said significant technical challenges remain for burying nuclear waste, but countries should take a step-by-step approach to permanent disposal. The United States is the only country as far along in studying a site.

The National Research Council began the study after noticing many nations delaying plans for permanent burial, while the spent nuclear fuel and other high-level radioactive waste continues to grow because of continued use of nuclear energy, dismantling nuclear weapons and cleaning up sites where the weapons were built.

The report was sponsored by the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and organizations responsible for managing radioactive wastes in eight countries.