DOE plans to submit Yucca license bid by December

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004 | 8:46 a.m.

Energy Department officials told the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board Tuesday they still plan by December to submit the final licensing application for a Yucca Mountain repository.

The department, however, is only about halfway there and still has several safety, design and technical issues to work through in the next several months before submitting the application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said W. John Arthur III, deputy director of repository development for the Energy Department.

Board members meeting in Las Vegas expressed doubt as to whether the Energy Department will be able to meet that December deadline, and whether that deadline pressure may lead the department to overlook some safety questions the board has with the repository's proposed design.

Congress created the 11-member board in 1987 to review plans to store 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"I think we raised several questions that suggest the schedule is ambitious," said Mark Abkowitz, board member and professor of civil and environmental engineering at Vanderbilt University. "We are looking for the DOE to demonstrate they can connect the dots to meet the quality requirements."

Fellow board member Thure Cerling, a professor of geology, geophysics and biology at the University of Utah, agreed.

"There is a lot of work to do," Cerling said.

Arthur and fellow Energy Department official Paul Harrington, of the repository engineering and design division, reviewed the status and design of the Yucca Mountain project in a public panel of the board's engineered system.

Arthur told the board members he plans to be able to address all of their questions, particularly those of corrosion to the waste canisters, by March. A rough draft of the licensing application will then be available for review by June to give ample time for revision.

Harrington went over the most recent changes to the design of the surface and subsurface facilities as well to the waste package design. Harrington said his team continues to tweak aspects of the design as they test the preclosure safety of the design as well as how the repository will perform after it is closed.

Board members asked several questions about how stable the tunnels in Yucca Mountain are, the possibility of earthquake and rock fall damage, if the materials used in the repository will last and the complexity and predictability of the design.

Board members also wanted to see more data on the waste package safety results and on security measures against terrorist threats on site and during transportation, particularly from overhead aircraft.

The DOE has to re-evaluate the hazard caused by overhead aircraft from Nellis Air Force Base, Harrington said, because of planned changes in use of the Nevada Test Site airspace by the Air Force. Board members feared what would happen if a plane crashed into the repository or one of the transporters.

The chance of that happening unintentionally was less than once in 10,000 years in the original study, Harrington said. The changes in airspace use could increase that probability and require additional safety precautions, he said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not require the DOE to address terrorist threats or intentional crashes as part of the license, Harrington said, but the DOE is evaluating security measures.

Abkowitz specifically questioned Arthur on the DOE's internal communication policies, fearing a disaster like the 1986 Challenger explosion could happen at Yucca Mountain if people were not free to report concerns.

"When you have many different contractors under deadline trying to get things done, can people who have concerns reach you without fear of appraisal?" Abkowitz asked Arthur.

NASA officials determined the shuttle exploded because communication policies prevented scientists from reporting the O-rings in the joints of the shuttle would freeze in certain temperatures. Officials said there was political pressure for the shuttle to be launched and there already had been too many delays.

Arthur said they are very aware of communication issues and are working to improve open discussion about possible problems, including the establishment of a leadership council within the DOE.

There is political pressure to open the Yucca Mountain site. The DOE plans to construct a small initial disposal system to begin operation by 2010, and then add additional facilities later, Harrington said.

The DOE also plans to produce 15 prototypes of 10 different waste container designs for further evaluation, Harrington said. The DOE is currently in the process of issuing a contract for these prototypes and plan to have the first one finished in 2005.