Nuke panel adopts tougher Yucca licensing regulations

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2001 | 8:52 a.m.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has adopted new licensing regulations -- including tougher limits concerning radiation in ground water -- that apply to a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

The most significant rule change involves stricter limits on potential radiation exposure from Yucca, expected to be recommended by the Department of Energy to store 77,000 tons of the nation's radioactive waste.

In June 2001 the Environmental Protection Agency limited total public radiation exposure to 15 millirems annually. The standards included a separate 4-millirem annual ground water exposure limit. In comparison, an average chest X-ray produces about 5 millirems.

Prior to the EPA standards the NRC had proposed its own general limit for radiation exposure -- 25 millirems annually, with no separate standard for ground water. The commission, however, promised to adopt the EPA rules.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., said the NRC had followed the law, but that they were concerned with the timing of the NRC's new regulations, which appeared in Friday's Federal Register.

"I am concerned that the focus is on publishing regulations instead of improving our understanding of the complicated geology of Yucca Mountain," Reid said.

"Yucca Mountain has not even been found suitable by the Department of Energy as a possible waste repository," Reid said.

The DOE is expected to recommend to President Bush and Congress the mountain as the nation's repository for high-level nuclear waste either later this year or early next year.

Ensign said he was pleased that the NRC's rules complied with standards outlined in the national Safe Drinking Water Act, although he added a disclaimer.

" ... I will never be satisfied if these regulations lead to nuclear waste being shipped to Nevada," Ensign said. "The most important thing here is to ensure that we can do everything that is possible to keep the families of Nevada safe."