Examiners OK added funds to fight Yucca

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004 | 8:40 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Yucca Mountain nuclear dump is "more than likely dead" because of problems at the Department of Energy, but more money is needed to try to drive a stake through the project's heart, a state official said Tuesday.

Bob Loux, executive director of the Agency for Nuclear Projects, told the state Board of Examiners that the federal budget for the high-level nuclear dump is "in great jeopardy." And he believes it's unlikely that the energy department will file its application for Yucca Mountain by December, its intended target.

But just in case, the board fulfilled Loux's request and recommended an additional $1.1 million for his agency to continue to retain attorneys and scientists to fight the potential application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The board also approved a request for $650,000 to pay attorneys to continue the legal battles against Yucca Mountain.

Those recommendations now go to the Legislative Interim Finance Committee that meets Nov. 17 for final approval.

Gov. Kenny Guinn, chairman of the examiners board, suggested the state file a lawsuit to stop the Energy Department from processing its application before the regulatory commission.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled on July 9 that the Environmental Protection Agency did not follow the law when it established a 10,000-year standard for protection of the public from radiation at the site.

The EPA adopted a rule that people would not be exposed to more than 15 millirems of radiation for 10,000 years after the nuclear dump opened at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The court said the law required the EPA to follow the suggestion of the National Academy of Sciences, which proposed 300,000 years.

Guinn said that should disqualify the Energy Department from applying or using the old standard.

Loux said there was "no appetite" in Congress to change the standard, as such a change could take years to adopt. Guinn said the state should sue if the Energy Department submits an application based on the standard that has been struck down by the appeals court.

The governor suggested the state seek a temporary restraining order against the Energy Department if it files the application without a new standard.

Loux suggested the federal agency might try a "Machiavellian" maneuver in submitting the application to get the hearings started while waiting for the new standard to be adopted.

But, he said, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has a four-year deadline to consider an application.

In the past, Loux said, it has taken eight years to develop a radiation standard.

Loux said the Energy Department in the past has been getting $500 million to $600 million a year to finance the study and preparation of Yucca Mountain. But he said the department may receive only $131 million this year. If that happens, there will be "massive layoffs," he said.

The department, in its budget submission, failed to follow the guidelines in asking for money for Yucca Mountain, hence the qualification for only $131 million this next fiscal year.

While the Energy Department is having troubles, Loux said there are "so many uncertainties that it would be imprudent for us not to be prepared" if the hearings before the regulatory commission start.

Loux said the extra $1.1 million would last the agency until March. Guinn said the Legislature would be in session then and the agency could ask it for more money.

If the Department of Energy files its application in December, it must electronically submit its entire record of documents. And the state must provide an electronic submission of documents 90 days before any hearing begins, said Loux. Some of the requested $1.1 million would be spent on that work.

In the past, the state has received $2.5 million a year from the federal government to prepare its case. But the state got only $1 million last year. The state appealed both to the Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to recover the $1.5 million, but those requests were denied.

If the state does somehow wind up getting the $2.5 million from the federal government, the $1.1 million from the state's emergency fund would be returned, Loux said.

Attorney General Brian Sandoval said the $650,000 is to continue to pay private lawyers for their handling of several Yucca-related lawsuits for the state. The state has filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., contending the federal government improperly withheld about $4 million from the state for the nuclear budget. The court arguments in that case are set for Jan. 12.

In addition, the Nuclear Energy Institute, a private group, has indicated it will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court the radiation standards ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., Loux said.

Also, Sandoval said, the state is waging a third lawsuit to prevent nuclear waste from being shipped to Nevada from another state.