Report: Develop Yucca in steps

Mary Manning and Benjamin Grove

Friday, Feb. 7, 2003 | 11:17 a.m.

The proposed Yucca Mountain repository should be constructed and operated in stages so that the project develops based on the latest scientific information, a new report said.

The Department of Energy, which manages the Yucca Mountain project, could keep the option of changing course if it moved "one step at a time" the National Academies' National Research Council report said.

The council is an arm of the nonprofit National Academy of Sciences, which operates under congressional charter to provide science-based advice to the federal government.

By developing the repository in stages, project managers can apply the latest technology, according to the report released Thursday. Safety, environmental and cost concerns could be reviewed continuously, the report argued.

The Energy Department aims to open the Yucca repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as early 2010. Up to 77,000 tons of waste from all over the nation would be shipped there for permanent burial over decades.

The report advocates a theory of "adaptive staging" to allow for flexibility, as opposed to setting "pre-arranged, rigid milestones" for the entire project.

But a Nevada official said the report could allow the Energy Department to sidestep its responsibility to prove the entire project is safe, which the department must do in order to obtain a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"It's another attempt to avoid the rules and regulations," Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects Executive Director Bob Loux said. "It's another way to get nuclear waste into Nevada, even temporarily."

The Energy Department requested the report more than a year ago after recognizing possible advantages in developing a first-of-its-kind repository at Yucca Mountain in stages.

The report criticized the department's current approach to Yucca as more "linear" than adaptive. Instead of adapting to changing conditions, the department tends to propose unrealistic schedules and shut out the public in some decisions, the report said.

"While this approach calls for a measured pace of advancement, it will not necessarily delay the project," said Charles McCombie, a Swiss scientist and chairman of the report committee.

If the new approach was adopted, project managers could gather and assess relevant information and use it to develop the next stage, the report said. At the same time as managers reassess the geological safety of a repository, they should make their findings public.

If the Energy Department's approach becomes more flexible, the project may need a larger above-ground storage at or near Yucca Mountain, the report said. In that way, waste could be accepted at the site even if its placement in Yucca's underground tunnels were delayed.

Nevada officials continue to battle to kill the Yucca project. The state has several lawsuits pending in federal court, including one based on the constitutional issue of a state's right to refuse a federally-imposed mandate. The state went to court after Congress and President Bush approved Yucca Mountain as a site for a nuclear waste repository last year.

Nevada's efforts this week received a boost from realtor associations in Nevada, Arizona and Utah. They contributed $24,000 to support Nevada's legal battle, Gov. Kenny Guinn announced Thursday.