NEI to take appeal on Yucca standards to Supreme Court

Suzanne Struglinski

Thursday, Sept. 16, 2004 | 9:43 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Nuclear Energy Institute will ask the Supreme Court to evaluate a federal appeals court decision affecting the Yucca Mountain project.

In the meantime, NEI has asked a federal appeals court to allow the 10,000-year radiation standard on the Yucca Mountain project to remain in place until the Supreme Court decides whether to take up the case.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled on July 9 that the Environmental Protection Agency 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.

NEI asked the appeals court to rehear the case but the court said it would not. The standard was supposed to be thrown out a week after the court's decision to rehear the case, but NEI asked the court earlier this month to keep the standard in place until the Supreme Court makes a decision.

NEI spokesman Mitch Singer said the group plans to appeal to the Supreme Court but nothing has been filed there yet.

Under the standard, the Energy Department would have to prove it could store nuclear waste safely inside Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, for 10,000 years. But the court said either Congress must change the law that guides the project or the EPA must come up with a new standard, either outcome would delay the project.

The EPA has said the federal government will not appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

Nevada has claimed victory since the July 9 ruling, saying the project is in trouble. Joe Egan, an attorney hired by the state to handle Yucca issues, said he didn't think NEI's attempt to appeal would go far.

"We regard this as a 'Hail Mary' pass with a watermelon," Egan said. "There is virtually no chance at all the watermelon is going to reach the end zone."

Egan said the state will file a response Friday to NEI's request. If the appeal court does not grant NEI's request, the court's ruling to throw out the radiation standard would finally become official. Only the Supreme Court could overturn the decision, he said.

Egan said it is unlikely it would because the federal government has decided not to go forward with appeals on the decision.

Nevada claims that the project could not meet a higher radiation standard, so setting a new one could delay or ultimately stop the project.