Panel of noted scientists favors developing Yucca in stages

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, April 22, 2003 | 11:02 a.m.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Developing Yucca Mountain in stages -- a strategy that would likely include storing more highly radioactive waste at an above-ground transfer station for longer periods of time than originally envisioned -- is a "promising approach," members of a panel of respected scientists said today.

A 14-member panel of the National Research Council studied the issue of "adaptive staging" and released a 200-page report in February that recommended the plan. Two members of the panel further explained the report today at a meeting of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's committee on Yucca Mountain issues. The Department of Energy sponsored the panel's study.

Adaptive staging would allow the Energy Department to develop the underground repository at Yucca Mountain in smaller scale phases. As part of the strategy more waste could be shipped to Yucca and stored at an above-ground "buffer storage" site while the underground repository tunnels were developed.

Nevada officials have criticized the plan as a piecemeal approach that does not adhere to licensing rules and environmental laws. Several members of the NRC's advisory committee on nuclear waste have concerns about adaptive staging. Committee member John Garrick questioned the timing of the DOE-sponsored report.

Garrick said he was concerned that the Energy Department was adopting a new approach to Yucca Mountain just a year and a half before the department applies for a license to construct it.

The advantages of adaptive staging would allow the department to prevent large-scale development errors that would be expensive to correct and allow the department to use the very latest scientific discoveries, advocates said.

"It's a good idea to take a step-by-step approach and recognize that flexibility is a virtue," said Thomas Isaacs, a member of the research panel.