Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

YUCCA MOUNTAIN:

Once flatlining, now on life support

Without pulling license application, critics say plan could resurface

yucca

ENERGY DEPARTMENT FILE

Campaign position

When asked whether Obama would withdraw the Energy Department’s application to license the nuclear waste repository as president, a spokeswoman for the then-senator replied unequivocally in an e-mail: “Yes.” — As reported in the Sun, June 2008

Cabinet member’s remarks

“The position is Yucca Mountain is not going forward, that’s the president’s position. But it’s a very complicated issue because we still have to do things that allow that we can use nuclear as part of our energy mix.” — Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Thursday

What it means for Nevada

If dump’s license application is allowed to proceed and is approved, some say, a future president might be able to open it without new approval process.

Yucca Mountain

The U.S. Energy Department plans to store spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, an extinct volcano about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Launch slideshow »

Sun Topics

The Obama administration remains steadfastly opposed to the Yucca Mountain project, but new Energy Secretary Steven Chu is leaving the door ajar for the government to continue seeking a license needed to open the nuclear waste dump site.

In remarks to the Las Vegas Sun on Thursday, Chu declined to say he was pulling the license application pending before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Critics of Yucca want the application killed because they fear that if it is approved, a future presidential administration could open the dump fairly quickly — avoiding a new, years-long application process.

President Barack Obama’s campaign pledged last year to kill the application, which is widely opposed in Nevada. When asked May 29 whether Obama would withdraw the application as president, a spokeswoman said unequivocally, “Yes.”

In comments Thursday, Chu gave assurances that Obama remains opposed to the nuclear dump site. “The position is Yucca Mountain is not going forward, that’s the president’s position,” Chu said following a talk in Washington. “But it’s a very complicated issue because we still have to do things that allow that we can use nuclear as part of our energy mix.”

Though quickly withdrawing the application is one sure way to kill the project, it may be easier said than done.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires the building of Yucca Mountain. That law remains in effect, which means the administration opens itself to potential legal action if it abruptly halts the process without an alternative.

Utility companies that operate nuclear power plants across the nation have sued the government for failing to open Yucca Mountain by the promised 1998 start date. The waste is piling up at their plant sites.

Obama has repeatedly said that he will not pursue Yucca Mountain to store spent fuel. Discussions are under way for a national Blue Ribbon commission that could consider alternatives to Yucca Mountain that would be acceptable to both the industry as well as lawmakers in Washington.

Similarly, the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s main lobbying arm, has been visiting communities across the United States to gauge interest in hosting waste dumps. Some proponents think there are economic benefits to housing such an operation.

Energy spokeswoman Stephanie Mueller said late Thursday that “charting a path forward on alternatives to Yucca Mountain is a key priority of Secretary Chu as he begins his tenure at the Department of Energy. Under an Obama administration, no license application will result in a nuclear waste storage site at Yucca Mountain.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, among the dump’s strongest opponents, is confident Obama and Chu will stop the dump, a spokesman said Thursday. Reid had vowed to try to block any nominee for energy secretary who didn’t oppose Yucca Mountain.

“We do want to pull the license application, though there are some steps that need to be taken to do that,” Reid spokesman Jon Summers said.

“Keep in mind that Obama has been in office all of a month,” Summers added. “President Obama and Secretary Chu made a promise to the people of Nevada and to Sen. Reid that they’re going to kill the dump. We have no doubt they’re going to do that. But we also realize there’s some groundwork that needs to be completed before you pull the license application.”

Bob Loux, the former head of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency, who fought the dump for more than 25 years, suggested that Chu’s inability to readily commit to pulling the application might mean he “is trying to forestall a wholesale revolt.”

Loux said Energy Department staff could also be interested in seeing the project through to completion as an exercise to understand what it would take to win licensing approval of a full-scale repository — the first of its kind.

The licensing process began last fall and is expected to take four years. The nuclear lobbying group has also promoted finishing the process to determine the project’s viability.

But Loux added that if Obama’s fiscal 2010 budget essentially zeroes out funding for Yucca Mountain, as Reid has indicated it would, there may not be resources to finish the licensing process anyway.

Estimates are it would take $200 million annually to support the work, he said.

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