Guinn told decision on Yucca near

Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2002 | 10:43 a.m.

Gov. Kenny Guinn said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham told him Monday that a decision was "imminent" on whether to recommend Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository, but Abraham said he had not set a deadline.

The Department of Energy has spent $8 billion and 15 years studying the rugged ridge 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas where 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste could be buried.

Guinn, an adamant opponent of a nuclear waste repository for commercial and defense radioactive waste, said he told Abraham that Nevada was prepared to battle the site designation with a national legal team and independent funds.

"He said the decision is imminent," Guinn told the Sun. "I don't know if that means two weeks, three weeks, or a month."

On Dec. 12 Abraham attended the final public hearing on the proposed repository and said he had not made a decision on the site. DOE officials have said that decision could come this winter and Congress set a Feb. 28 deadline.

Guinn said Abraham did not indicate which way he was leaning, but Nevada leaders, including the governor, are preparing for a decision that would propose Yucca Mountain to President Bush.

Abraham must give Guinn notice of his decision 30 days in advance of informing the president. That notice has not yet been given to the governor, both Guinn and Abraham said Monday.

The governor met with Abraham for an hour before the secretary departed for the Nevada Test Site and Yucca for a six-hour tour of the area that is larger than Rhode Island. The secretary witnessed a mock terrorist attack, but spent most of his time at Yucca.

Guinn described the private session with Abraham as "cordial," although the governor said he made it clear that Nevada will fight any decision to turn the mountain into a dump.

"I am just as resolved in opposition to the project today as I was years ago," Guinn said, noting millions of dollars have been donated from small Nevada towns to major Las Vegas casinos to sue the DOE in court. The governor noted Fallon, a town 60 miles east of Reno where 15 children have developed leukemia, has contributed $75,000.

Once Abraham recommends Yucca Mountain to President Bush, the president can take unlimited time to recommend the site. Guinn said he is ready to act.

"The Department of Energy just throws out what we say, no matter whether it is scientific or economic," Guinn said. "Hopefully, a judge will say you have to look at this."

Abraham said late Monday during a media conference at the site that he had completed his study of the mountain after an "exhaustive" tour.

"It's premature for me to comment on whether or not I will make a recommendation," Abraham said. The secretary said he has read thousands of pages of scientific reports and is considering more than 14,800 public comments.

The "vastness" of the desert surrounding the Test Site and the mountain struck him, Abraham said. "I don't think you are prepared for the vastness of the complex, the size of the area, the vastness in which you travel, from reading reports or newspaper accounts."

In addition to considering science, safety and suitability at Yucca, Abraham said he will weigh the national interest. That includes possible terrorist attacks.

"National security is certainly part of the decision," Abraham said, adding that he planned to look at Yucca Mountain as well as other options, but did not elaborate on what they are.

Critics are concerned that a fully fueled jetliner could crash into surface facilities where waste is removed from shipping containers to casks for geologic burial and release a cloud of radiation. An F-18 fighter jet crashed about 25 miles west of Yucca in October during a training mission.

The purpose of his trip was to "challenge the people who have been involved with this" on issues such as heat effects on Yucca's volcanic layers or how fast water moves, Abraham said.

DOE's chief science officer Michael Voegle said the secretary certainly asked pointed questions. "He seemed as if he has looked at the documents and he asked plenty of questions," he said.

"He was prepared," said Mark Peters, project manager for the test that warmed Yucca above the boiling point of water in the past four years.

Abraham left Nellis Air Force Base, 15 miles northeast of Las Vegas, at 11:35 a.m., arriving at the Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas at 12:10 p.m., security specialist Michael Kiley said.

Abraham watched a simulated attack on a mock nuclear fuel plant, complete with an explosion and the capture of the terrorists. "It was over in five minutes," Kiley said of the exercise. The secretary was whisked away from the site shortly after 6 p.m.

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