Yucca board says shield concerns may slow licensing

Stephen Curran

Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005 | 9:34 a.m.

Concerns over the strength of titanium drip shields that are intended to keep water from leaking into casks deep inside the proposed nuclear waste repository may slow the Energy Department's already delayed licensing process, a Yucca Mountain oversight board said Wednesday.

Members of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, a committee created by Congress to oversee the Yucca Mountain project, called for a discussion at its next meeting in April to address concerns raised by department engineers William Boyle and Kirk Lachman, who in a design review briefly discussed possible flaws that could cause the $6 billion drip shields to corrode.

Their comments, part of a series of presentations in an all-day meeting at the Alexis Park Resort in Las Vegas, set off a flurry of questioning by the board, as many members said the matter would rear its head as the department prepares to submit another license application later this year.

"I think it will affect the license application," board member George Hornberger said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals on July 9 threw out the Environmental Protection Agency's 10,000-year standard, saying it did not follow the National Academy of Sciences recommendation of another standard for as many as 300,000 years. The ruling proved a significant setback for the Energy Department, which is still working to complete another application by later this year.

Even then, the department will still face an 18-month Congressional review of its application before it receives the final go-ahead, Margaret Chu, the Energy Department's assistant secretary who oversees the Yucca Mountain project, said.

The department had initially planned to submit the application in December 2004.

Hornberger's comments were the latest criticism of the waste containers, which became a lightning rod after the review board in 2003 said a flaw in their design could increase the likelihood of water corroding the casks.

The committee is expected to take up the issue again at its next meeting in April, chairman John Garrick said.

Chu said the engineers' findings underscored a need for a "more detailed conversation," but that it was unlikely to affect when the department submits the new application.

"I really don't believe it will impact the license application schedule," Chu said.

Her statements Wednesday came days after the Energy Department official said the delays had forced the department to begin shying away from its earlier predictions that the repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas could open by 2010.

Officials were now aiming for a 2012 opening date, although that date was not certain, Chu told the committee.

"It is difficult to specify with some confidence because it's so budget-dependent," Chu said. "... Building a repository is a capital project. It takes a lot of money."

Meanwhile Energy Department budget documents released earlier this week revealed that the federal agency could begin planning as soon as next year for the 319-mile rail line that would ship 77,000 tons of nuclear waste from various sites nationwide through Caliente.

The Energy Department documents were part of a larger 100-page plan submitted to Congress outlining the department's plans for the $651 million it requested for Yucca Mountain.

The rail line is still contingent on an environmental impact study expected to outline ecological effects of the rail line. That study, along with a prototype of a rail car, is expected to be complete by mid-2006, Chu said.