Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2004 | 9:25 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- The milestone federal court decision rendered in July and considered a setback for Yucca Mountain formally takes effect on Wednesday.
A Nevada challenge to the nuclear waste project's radiation standards was set to become effective seven days after the court disposed of all appeals. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia threw out the one appeal -- brought by the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry lobbying group -- Wednesday in a one-sentence ruling.
At issue was a rule set by the Environmental Protection Agency that would require the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca to contain radiation to a 15-millirem level per year for 10,000 years.
As the Energy Department has researched Yucca and developed a dump proposal, the department has promised to meet that standard.
But the federal court ruled on July 9 that the EPA did not follow the law when it established a 10,000-year standard, largely because it did not accept the National Academy of Sciences recommendation of a far higher standard, perhaps 300,000 years.
Senior Nevada Deputy Attorney General Marta Adams said the court's refusal to hear the nuclear industry's appeal was another victory for the state.
The nuclear industry has until Nov. 29 to file a petition for a U.S. Supreme Court appeal.
Nuclear Energy Institute spokesman Mitch Singer today declined to say if NEI was planning a Supreme Court appeal.
NEI had argued in its appeal that the EPA started with the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences as it developed Yucca safety standards. But then it included other factors and devised the 10,000-year limit.
NEI, which intervened in the state's suit against the government, said 10,000 years is in line with other waste management practices on both radioactive and nonradioactive materials and it is strict enough to protect the public.
In its July ruling, the federal court ruled that the EPA now would have to create a new standard for public safety or that Congress would have to change the law requiring a lower standard.
The ruling last week was the second recent setback for the project. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled earlier in the week that the Energy Department did not have all of its project documents in order and that many documents were missing.
The DOE is scrambling to submit new documents so that the commission can officially certify them. The commission cannot begin considering the DOE's application for a license to construct Yucca until six months after the documents have been certified.
The DOE still plans to submit that application by year's end. The department plans to begin construction in 2007.
The NRC must approve both the design of the first-of-its-kind repository and deem it safe before construction begins.
The Energy Department's documentation has to be available online on a special licensing network for six months before its application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can be considered.
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