DOE plans more Yucca answers

Suzanne Struglinski

Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2003 | 9:15 a.m.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- The Energy Department will have more answers to unresolved scientific questions surrounding Yucca Mountain by the end of the month, department officials told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Tuesday.

A high-level nuclear waste dump proposed for the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas was approved last year without answers to 293 technical scientific questions, such as how fast water moves through the mountain rock or what the chances are of earthquake or volcanic activity at the site.

The Energy Department had answered almost 100 of those questions, but in June made arrangements with the regulatory commission to resolve most of the remaining 194 questions in 14 related groups, or "bundles." Thirteen issues would still have to be addressed individually.

DOE officials told regulatory commission staff members Tuesday that the first three bundles would be answered by the end of the month, and another two bundles would be sent to the commission by the end of October, with partial data for two other bundles also coming next month.

The resolution of the questions -- commonly called "key technical issue agreements" -- is crucial to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ultimately approving a license that would allow the department to construct the underground nuclear waste repository.

They address the ability of the dump to to keep the radiation from the nuclear waste from getting to the surrounding environment.

The issues are supposed to be resolved before the department applies for a license to build and operate the dump, expected by December 2004.

By the end of this month, which also marks the end of the government's 2003 fiscal year, the departments aims to deliver answers to question on water flow inside the mountain and effects of radioactivity on soil in the Amargosa Valley, which is downstream of Yucca Mountain, among other questions in the three categories.

Water getting into the repository could enter tunnels storing the waste or drip on the storage casks, corroding metals over time creating cracks in the casks, although DOE scientists have said in the past that it would not happen. Water could also transport radiation into the groundwater, despite legal limits set to protect the water from such exposure.

In October the department plans to submit answers on volcanic events at the site as well as chemical and corrosion data. It will partially answer questions related to water seepage and waste package and drip shield corrosion and then follow up on the matters next spring, Gunter said.

Although volcanoes near the site have not erupted, the department needs to address how any volcanic activity during the next 10,000 years would affect the 77,000 tons of nuclear waste inside the mountain. The volcanic bundle would answer questions on how waste containers would respond to stresses from magma and other related issued.

Bob Loux, director of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency, said he is concerned the department is simply checking boxes on a to-do list.

"Their deadline is more important to them than actually gathering up all the technical information on the site," Loux said. "This is an administrative process, not a scientific one."

Donald Beckman with Bechtel SAIC assured the NRC staff that all the key technical issues will be addressed before December 2004. The department will address remaining questions about work scheduled beyond then with partial answers to support the license application, then provide additional information later.