Scientific panel calls Yucca study ‘weak to moderate’

Thursday, Jan. 24, 2002 | 10:18 a.m.

An independent scientific panel released a report on the Energy Department's work at the proposed Yucca Mountain repository, calling it "weak to moderate."

However, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board was not critical of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's announcement that he would recommend the site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, to President Bush next month. The board's report made it clear that criticizing the recommendation of the site was beyond its responsibility.

The report said the panel had concerns on gaps in Energy Department data about how fast water travels through the mountain, how quickly nuclear waste containers with 77,000 tons of radioactive material could corrode and how long man-made shielding would protect the buried wastes.

In a letter sent by Board Chairman Jared Cohon to the DOE, the panel said it had "limited confidence" in the complex computer models federal scientists are relying on to predict the repository's behavior for thousands of years.

By law the repository has to be demonstrated safe for 10,000 years.

The review board was created in 1987 after Yucca Mountain was singled out as the only site for the DOE to study to become the nation's high-level nuclear waste repository. Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton all appointed members to the panel.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who with Nevada's congressional delegation has vocally opposed the Yucca Mountain repository, said both the latest report and a General Accounting Office review that found 293 unresolved technical issues proves the site is not ready.

"It has become painfully clear how premature the recommendation is and how this decision was made based on the disgraceful bias of Spencer Abraham and the Department of Energy," Berkley said.