Terror threat not weighed in assessing nuke waste shipments

Benjamin Grove

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 | 12:34 p.m.

WASHINGTON - The National Academy of Sciences did not thoroughly consider the threat of terrorism as it studied the risks involved in shipping nuclear waste from around the U.S. to Yucca Mountain.

The study, partially funded by an affiliate of the nuclear power industry, concluded that the shipments would be safe. But the 292-page report noted that terrorism risks had not been fully considered because some researchers on the 16-member study panel did not have the security clearances required for access to classified government briefings.

Yucca critics have long said that the threat of terrorist attack made a massive waste-shipping campaign dangerous. Nevada officials said the new report does nothing to ease those concerns because the panel did not explore the risk of terrorism, even though the state has been asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to review the issue since 1999.

"It's certainly needed," Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency director Bob Loux said. "And it's something we've been asking for for a long time."

The study was paid for by federal agencies and, in part, by an affiliate of the nuclear power industry. The Academy of Sciences panel recommended that a separate committee, free of government or industry connections, now conduct a separate study of terrorism risks.

The new study should examine potential threats, the ability of waste containers to hold up to "malevolent acts," and security measures to protect shipments, the panel said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week celebrated a milestone: the 50th anniversary of its public documents room, feted for providing the public with "fast and accurate responses" to inquiries as part of its mission as an "open and transparent" regulator.

The documents room "has given the American public a window" into the agency, an NRC press release trumpeted.

But on the special birthday, it was hard to miss an irony: four days earlier the NRC had denied Nevada's plea to obtain a Yucca Mountain document the state has long fought to make public.

The Energy Department's Yucca license application is the mother of all Yucca documents - essentially a request for NRC permission to begin construction on the repository, which is opposed by most Nevadans. Department officials have had a draft completed for several years, but they say Nevada can't see it until the final version is submitted months - even years - from now.

The document is, in effect, a detailed justification of the department's long-held assertion that waste would safely be stored at Yucca.

So the public has a right to see it, Nevada officials argue.

A unit of the NRC, the Pre-License Application Presiding Officer Board, had granted Nevada's request. But NRC and DOE staffers objected on technical grounds, appealing to the five-member commission.

Benjamin Grove can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or at grove@ lasvegassun.com.