Yucca Mountain:

Nevada skipped in talk of nuclear waste storage

Energy nominee sidesteps Yucca project in Hill session

Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Yucca Mountain

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Washington — Energy Secretary nominee Steven Chu managed to get through his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday while barely mentioning the words Yucca Mountain.

Even though the Energy Department has spent $9 billion and more than 20 years developing the plan for a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, when asked by senators about the site, Chu said only that he would use sound science to find a long-term solution to the storage problem.

By sidestepping the issue and pointing to President-elect Barack Obama’s stated opposition to Yucca Mountain, Chu did more than simply avoid a thorny question during a confirmation hearing. He signaled the new direction Obama seems to be taking on the dump: It was as if Yucca Mountain did not exist.

“The Department of Energy has an obligation, a real obligation, to provide a plan that allows for the safe disposal of nuclear waste,” Chu testified. “We do need a plan of how to dispose of that waste safely over a long period of time.”

Nevertheless, the Nobel physicist said nuclear energy is necessary as the nation confronts climate change. It satisfies 20 percent of the nation’s energy needs — and constitutes 70 percent of its carbon-free energy, he reminded the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The next point public officials usually make in conversations of this kind is that nuclear recycling will provide a way out of the waste conundrum. Many lawmakers in Nevada say they favor nuclear power if the waste can be reused rather than dumped.

Chu, however, seemed unconvinced that reprocessing nuclear waste is a sound choice, describing existing technology as “not ideal.” He echoed concerns in the scientific community that nuclear waste stockpiled for recycling could fall into enemy hands, and that reprocessing used fuel now costs more than mining for fresh uranium.

“The idea here, now, is to do it in a way that makes it more proliferation-resistant and there’s economic feasibility,” he said.

Chu told the senators that waste storage is an issue that would “occupy a significant amount of my time and energy.”

He said that in many ways the nuclear dilemma is similar to the quest for clean coal: More coal and nuclear plants should be brought on line even as new technologies are being developed – to capture carbon in the case of coal or resolve the waste issue with nuclear energy.

“It doesn’t mean you stop everything today,” he said.

Perhaps one clue to his approach in resolving the waste issue can be seen in his views on the politically difficult task of choosing routes for new energy transmission lines. Communities have protested the so-called electricity superhighways proposed for their neighborhoods.

“How do you site these in a way that takes into consideration the local feelings?” Chu said.

When one senator asked whether the federal government should be given more authority to decide where the transmission lines belong, Chu suggested the government instead “try a gentler approach.”

Chu’s comments seemed light years from those of Energy Department officials who forced Yucca Mountain on Nevada over the years. “If one just expands the authority and gives more power, my feeling is the states, and the local people in the states, might react,” Chu said.

Discussion: 7 comments so far…

By Future2012

1/14/09 at 7:49 a.m.

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Chu said "he would use sound science to find a long-term solution to the storage problem."

Chu said "nuclear energy is necessary as the nation confronts climate change. It satisfies 20 percent of the nation's energy needs -- and constitutes 70 percent of its carbon-free energy"

Reid has announce his annual Yucca budget cut.

By all statements the Yucca Mountain Project will continue as is has in the past with an under funded operation.

But the funding is clearly enough to continue the NRC process to approve the License Application.

Not once in this process has someone said NO

Reid has not said NO funding

Obama has not say NO funding

Chu has not said NO funding

Chu and Obama will permit adjudication of the YMP License Application docketed September 8, 2008 and allow science to make the case on the merits. Opponents, if they permit their positions on technical facts of the program, have should have nothing to fear from a quality review process.

Obama has enough friends and "state" lobbyist in the nuclear industry to know that if the Feds quit on Yucca without changing the NWPA, that the NEI (through the courts) will get their money ($20 billion plus) back and the NEI can complete the job themselves. DOE has lost every court case on this issue.

The directors of 10 national laboratories including Steven Chu as head of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California prepared an eight-page position paper on nuclear power calling for the "licensing of the Yucca repository as a long-term measure."
By boco

1/14/09 at 1:37 p.m.

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This sentence could be improved "Many lawmakers in Nevada say they favor nuclear power if the waste can be reused rather than dumped" if the colorful, but inaccurate term "dumped" wasn't used (too much to ask of the Sun.)More importantly, the lawmakers and general public need to appreciate that reprocessing (re-cycling to some) is in addition to a repository, not as an alternative to it. Secondly, a repository is needed for the defense radioactive waste, which cannot be recycled.
By boftx

1/14/09 at 2:47 p.m.

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When it comes to Yucca, the best advice is probably "lay back and enjoy the inevitable". Part of that enjoyment can come from raking in huges fees for transport and usage.

If any of this is too complex to fathom, have a talk with some of the folks in Parumph.
By davidwayneosedach

1/14/09 at 6:16 p.m.

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Like it or not the nuclear waste will have to go somewhere. The answer is Yucca.
By getalife

1/14/09 at 7:06 p.m.

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The reason Chu isn't getting asked the tough questions is because the only lawmakers opposed to Yucca are the clowns from Nevada.

It's coming folks, might as well get educated and try to understand the issue.

I know it's a lot more fun to scream the sky the falling, but reality and fun are divergent on this topic.
By LasVegasWilly

1/15/09 at 4:53 p.m.

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"It's coming folks"

No, I don't think it is. And if it does come, it won't be in most of our life times.

LasVegasWilly
By boco

1/21/09 at 11:01 a.m.

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It is totally unfair to claim that it was the Department of Energy which "forced" Yucca Mountain on Nevada. Congress, not DOE, chose to study Yucca Mountain as the only site for the repository and to discontinue study at other sites. Had DOE tried to look at other sites, it would have been unauthorized and it would not be a surprise if someone took them to court.

While many in Nevada oppose the efforts of DOE to evaluate Yucca Mountain, they were doing so at the direction of the U.S. Congress on behalf of the people of the United States.