Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Sunday, Nov. 21, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.
Greg Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, recently told his staff to start phasing out their review of the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
That caused an outcry from the nuclear industry and its supporters in Congress. They claim Jaczko has overstepped his bounds and is motivated by “partisan politics” because, before being named to the commission, he was an aide to Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada.
But those accusations are ridiculous. Jaczko’s decision isn’t political, it’s practical. The White House has zeroed out the budget for Yucca and is trying to withdraw the foolish Bush-era application to build the waste dump, an application made to the NRC. President Barack Obama has declared his opposition to a Yucca repository and formed a commission to study what else the nation can do with its nuclear waste instead of hauling it across the country to Nevada. Given all of that, what’s the point of the NRC spending any more money evaluating the project?
Republicans say only Congress can end the project, and they still claim that it’s good policy. How they do that with a straight face is a mystery.
The federal government has spent billions of dollars on it and only has a big hole in the ground to show for it. The science the Bush administration used to try to support the project is, at best, incomplete, and the science there has been called into question time and again. There are significant, unresolved safety concerns about the project, and Yucca Mountain is a terrible site to begin with. It’s a porous volcanic ridge, and studies have shown that it is hardly suitable to contain nuclear waste. Besides, the waste is safe where it is — at reactor sites, safely enclosed in concrete.
Yet Republicans want to spend billions more — the Energy Department estimates it could cost $100 billion — pursuing a dangerous project. And this is the party that declares itself to be fiscally responsible?
Although Republicans are quick to complain about politics, they don’t want to acknowledge that the roots of the project are steeped in it. Yucca Mountain was chosen as the proposed site for the nation’s high-level nuclear waste in 1987 over several much more suitable sites because Nevada didn’t have any political clout at the time. There were better sites in other states, including locations in Texas and Washington. But those states had clout: The vice president and speaker of the House were from Texas; the majority leader in the House was from Washington. Nevada’s small congressional delegation didn’t have much muscle.
In the years since, the federal government has spent billions of dollars trying to support a poor choice, and that effort has largely been supported by the Republican Party, which has done the bidding of the nuclear industry.
Led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada’s congressional delegation has solidly been against a Yucca repository for years and has pushed the project to the brink of defeat. We can’t imagine what would have happened had Reid lost to Sharron Angle, who would have recklessly pushed ahead with efforts to bring nuclear waste to Nevada.
It is clear that Republicans, as they prepare to take control of the House, are ramping up a last-ditch effort to push a Yucca dump through. The GOP is starting with a high-profile and what appears to be coordinated attack on Jaczko because of his ties to Reid.
House Republicans have requested the NRC turn over documents about its deliberations on Yucca, and three Republican members recently wrote a letter to the White House demanding answers about Jaczko’s actions. And a former Republican member of the NRC complained to its inspector general, calling for an investigation of Jaczko.
And the Republicans have the gall to ascribe political motivations to Jaczko?
Let’s end the charade. Republicans are playing politics once again, and they are willing to risk the nation’s safety and spend billions of dollars in the process. That’s despicable.
So the Las Vagas Sun and Harry Reid say "The science of the 5 DOE National labs used to try to support the project is, at best, incomplete, and the science there has been called into question time and again.
That is a lie.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff was one month away from approving the Yucca Mountain License Application when Greg Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Greg Jaczko admited to Congress the day after the election that he illegally in collusion with Harry Reid withheld a vote on processing the License Application.
If The Sun and Harry Reid truely believe that the 5 DOE National Labs are presenting bad sciece they should welcome the Greg Jaczko NRC evaluation to prove their position.
The Harry Reid/Obama/Jaczko Yucca Policy continues to deny the obvious - Yucca Mountain is not DEAD. Harry Reid has lied to the public about the safe storage indefinitely -- meaning it would be safe at Yucca. Harry Reid lied to get re-elected.
Yucca Mountain is not DEAD despite every ILLEGAL move made by Harry Reid and Obama to kill it. Every move is now being reversed.
-------------------------------------------------
Witness the illegal moves:
November 8, 2010 FOAI released documents show that NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko initially voted on the Yucca Mountain Process matter August 25, 2010, but then in collusion with Harry Reid withdrew his vote and waited until one working day before the November 3 elections to resubmit it ensuring the matter could not be decided.
On November 4th Jaczko confessed by acknowledged in writing to Senator James Inhofe (OKLA) that he substantially delayed a commission ruling.
October 19,2010, The House Energy and Commerce Committee asked Nuclear Regulatory Commission Inspector General Hubert Bell to investigate what they called improper actions by NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko to shut down NRC's review of the nuclear waste repository project.
On October 7, 2010, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko determined that previously restricted funding was not going to stop release of Volume 3 (Yucca Post Closure Safety Evaluation) before the election. So Gregory Jaczko personally issued an immediate stopped all work on Yucca work including Volume 3. The five Commissioners were not allowed to vote as required by NRC Commission rules. A vote Gregory Jaczko has forbidden since last spring.
The Volume 3 - Yucca Post Closure Safety Evaluation has been technically completed and was going through a final editing cross-reference review.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::
The Volume 3 - Yucca Post Closure Safety Evaluation has been technically completed and was going through a final editing cross-reference review.
Release before the Reid 2010 Election and making it available to the Federal Court would have doomed the illegal Reid/Jaczko/Chu/ Obama stop Yucca at any cost debacle.
When the Yucca Mountain E-mail trail is exposed after the election Reid, if he wins, may not survive the collusion exposed.
On October 4, Jaczko took action to close out all Yucca cost codes within the NRC to bring closure to Yucca activities. This was done even though under the FY-2011 "Continuing Resolution" Yucca is funded to do the "Safety Evaluation." In fact there is $10 million in the FY-2011 budget for an "orderly" shutdown - not an immediate terminal dumpster shutdown.
Is that how the Federal Government handles 30 years and $10 billion of Science performed primarily by five of the DOE's National Labs? Sound Science to be buried?
On September 22, 2010, the Various States in litigation filed further motions in the DC Appeals Court to speed up the NRC decision making along before the election.
It was further note that the FOIA had to be invoked to obtain heavily redacted e-mails between was Harry Reid's Office and the NRC on Yucca Mountain. However none are yet made available after April 2010.
September 15, 2010, Commissioner William Magwood voted on Yucca. NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko who initially voted on the Yucca matter August 25, 2010, withdrew his vote preventing the NRC to report the vote.
On 9-15-10, to allow the NRC to license new nuclear power plant the NRC has approved an updated "Waste Confidence Rule" expressing the agency's "Legal Determination" that there is reasonable assurance that sufficient mined geologic repository capacity [Yucca] will be available to dispose of the commercial high-level radioactive waste and spent fuel generated in any reactor when necessary."
The libertarian loons are typically hypocritical on this. "Less government" - yet the Price Anderson Act made the government indemnify the nuclear industry. In addition, we have a government waste storage facility? Sounds like more government, I thought the Republicans and libertoonians wanted "less government."
On 9-16-10, MIT issued a report for the Obama/Reid/Chu formed a blue-ribbon commission which repudiates the Harry Reid Yucca lies about safety. One member of the Obama/Reid/Chu blue-ribbon commission--MIT Professor Ernest Moniz--was a co-chair of the new study. Like almost every other study of its kind, the MIT study says a geologic repository WILL BE NEEDED because some long-lived elements of spent fuel will remain for disposal no matter what reprocessing systems the fuel is run through.
NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko initially voted on the Yucca matter August 25, 2010, but then withdrew his vote. Commissioners Kristine Svinicki and William Ostendorff voted on the Yucca matter August 25 and August 26. Commissioner George Apostolakis, has recused himself from the case because of his pre-NRC work peer-reviewing aspects of the Yucca project.
On 8-23-10, the National Nuclear Security Administration announced, it was renaming NTS as the "Nevada National Security Site," because it is increasingly being used by the NNSA for storage of toxic plutonium and other weapons-grade nuclear materials. Harry Reid Attended.
On 8-23-10, the NRC issued a positive report on volume I of the Yucca Licensing Application. A staff of scientists and consultants for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission released the first volume of a five-volume safety evaluation report.
On 7-30-10, the NRC approved the proposed changes to 10 CFR Part 73.37 for spent fuel shipment across the country. Aside from a few administrative notification changes, it formally put in place all the post 9/11 Orders (like armed escorts in populated areas) that have been in place for years. It establishes that the shipping casks are acceptable to withstand even terrorist attacks.
On 6-29-10 the NRC rule on Yucca Mountain came down and destroyed the credibility of Harry Reid and Obama. The NRC said "we deny DOE's motion to withdraw the Application. We do so because the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended (NWPA), does not permit the Secretary to withdraw the Application that the NWPA mandates the Secretary file. Specifically, the NWPA does not give the Secretary the discretion to substitute his policy for the one established by Congress in the NWPA.
MRED laments "we have a government waste storage facility? Sounds like more government, I thought the Republicans and libertoonians wanted "less government.""
Right let the industry and their ratepayers have their $30 billion and build their own repository.
But do not forget that a big share of the waste is federal from the Nuclear Weapons Complex and from US Navy spent fuel.
And of course what this article conveniently omits is that it was a Democrat in the form former US Senator J. Bennett Johnson that authored the so-called "Screw Nevada" bill that targeted Yucca mountain to begin with. And lets not make the claim that Nevada was solely picked on because we had no "political clout". Nevada was also picked on because this state had allowed nuke tests out in this area for years without so much as a complaint from any of the state "leaders"..
I am simply not convinced why southern Nevada needs to have a national nuclear waste dump.
Every single justification I see for it is pushed hard by others..that are not even from here.
I have heard a lot of flimsy excuses why it should happen. One of the most idiotic is southern Nevada has a long nuclear history due to the Nevada Test Site. THAT is not an excuse why Yucca should happen. That is not a good enough reason why it should continue, branching off into nuclear waste. That stops. Our legacy on that issue is over with. When it involves something that will prove harmful and devastating for not only us, but for our children's children's children.
The fingers always point at Nevada, but they gloss over the fact that the hazardous waste generated by their power plants can be adequately stored safely there for years and years. And I have recently read articles by whistle blowers that point out ALREADY, the nuclear waste stored in other States is slowly leaking due to faulty and improper nuclear waste handling and storage.
Still they want to get rid of it and turn southern Nevada into a nuclear waste toilet receptacle. If we get this, we're stuck with it. Forever. ONE mistake, I mean one single mistake in the handling of it, will prove catastrophic. Not only now, but for generations. Why risk something stupid like that for only slight returns now?
This fight is not only Senator Reid's fight. This fight needs to be shared by all in Nevada.
The message is clear. We don't want this, and never have. We fight for Nevada. And if this involves making scientists, politicians, lobbyists, lawyers, court reporters, judges and anyone else with a vested interested lining up, screaming and spending money and filing law suits...so be it. We run them ALL broke pursuing an agenda that is not going to happen. Then and only then will they understand they can't impose their will on Nevada, telling us what to do. Spend freely, everyone, trying to push this off on Nevada. We are NEVER taking nuclear waste here. WE FIGHT THIS. Tooth and nail.
Now those with an agenda pushing for this can simply say I'm in the minority with my opinion. And that's fine. But I really, really doubt that is the case. I am pretty sure I can safely say I speak for a clear majority of people in southern Nevada (especially Las Vegans) when I say this is not a good idea. And never has been. And never will be.
Thank God we have Senator Reid and President Obama to put a stop to these power mad people who are only interested in money...and not safety and welfare.
So fosimmons confesses he is part of a federal government conspiracy. He participated in a murder "Have you ever seen a neon blue person ....? I have and on the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier, our first nuc. powered aircraft carrier .... yes, and it was hushed up as fast as a New Jersey heart beat"
So fosimmons confesses he saw a "neon blue person" on the USS Enterprise and helped the Federal Government cover it up.
Amazing that is like being a WAR CRIMINAL or something.
But maybe the "Blue Man Group" was playing in port and he is just confused between the two neon visuals.
Fosimmons confused? Shocking just shocking
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;
Because the law in the form of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) was passed as the national consensus to handle U.S nuclear weapons production high-level waste, spent fuel from operations of the over 40 percent of the U.S Navy's fleet which is nuclear-powered, and the one-fifth of the nation's electricity which is generated by nuclear power.
Nobody has argued that we should leave in-situ weapons program high-level waste and Naval spent nuclear fuel.
Because the law in the form of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) was passed as the national consensus to handle U.S nuclear weapons production high-level waste, spent fuel from operations of the over 40 percent of the U.S Navy's fleet which is nuclear-powered, and the one-fifth of the nation's electricity which is generated by nuclear power.
Nobody has argued that we should leave in-situ weapons program high-level waste and Naval spent nuclear fuel.
The opponents continue to miss the point in their choleric plummeting of the Yucca Mountain Project. They are casting about to denigrate anyone who touches their contrived "third rail" NIMBY histrionics, without establishing a sincere reason to oppose the project or to constructively engage in an alternative solution.
There are easy points that we should all agree on:
If we don't like the NWPA then going to Congress and changing the law is the quickest way to get an agreed upon alternative course of action for the United States. DOE has repeatedly admitted that is an option. The U. S. is losing all utility lawsuits concerning the transfer of spent fuel ownership resulting in billions of dollars in liability to the taxpayers.
At this point in the process, the President does not make the decision on whether the science is acceptable.
The licensing will go forward, allowing the NRC safety review process to establish the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site. Opponents, if they permit an adjudication their positions on technical facts of the program, have should have nothing to fear from a quality review process.
Remember that Senator Reid has placed his personal adjudicator (Gregory Jaczko) on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Nobody wants garbage dumped in their own backyard which is why Nevada with its wide open spaces was targeted by the nuke industry and other states to become the national dumping ground for deadly material.
If Texas, Alabama, etc. want to produce nuclear energy they need to find a way to store their own radioactive waste until it becomes harmless in 20,000 years.
You don't need to be a scientist to know that a volcanic mountain sitting on a fault line over Nevada's underground water table is a bad place to store nuke waste . future can cry all he want's but we the citizens of Nevada will never let them put it here !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In their rich-get-richer, poor-get-poorer race to the bottom the GOP wants Nevada to lead the charge.
And if republicans have their way Nevada will always be dependent on a service industry that places little value on education. As other states develop technologies for the future we'll always be America's cooks, bartenders, card dealers, housekeepers and somewhere to store deadly nuclear waste.
Future:
What is your position in this industry? Do you have a dog in this hunt?
-Welcome to 'Viva Las Vegas' the Land of the 'Republicans' Repository Nuclear Waste site-!!!
It would be a bad slogan... see my point???
'Dump this trash on the neighbors land and let them take care of it'! That would be the easiest thing to say from an irresponsible neighbor!!
It's common sense! We Nevadans don't like other peoples trash in our State-specially if it involves Nuclear Waste!!!
"But those accusations are ridiculous. Jaczko's decision isn't political, it's practical." Two federal laws are being violated (Anti-Deficiency, and NWPA), maybe a third (Admin Controls), and is being done with involvement from others (conspiracy). He's under IG investigation. Other Commissioners are questioning his ethical integrity. OMB is being questioned about the legal basis of the decision by Congress. He's going to be called before the Appropriations Committee for possible censure or condemnation proceedings. Serious stuff.
So, is the editorial staff in favor of our elected officials and political appointees being given a "political" pass for violating multiple federal laws, or is it in favor of upholding the constitution of the United States? Which is it to be? You can't hold both those positions just as politicians cannot while purporting to "uphold and defend".
Future and Zyphel seem to make good sense to me. The part of the editorial that I think is wacko is the idea that this was to be an unsafe repository. It was shown, with what I believe to be reasonable assurance, in the license application, that operationally and long-term, this would have been a safe undertaking for a million years. Maybe there are better things to do, and we'll await the Blue Ribbon Commission's (BRC's) recommendations to see what they are. But not even the Secretary of Energy said this was an unsafe endeavor. He simply said "we can do better" and set up the BRC to tell us what that "better" may be. I await their recommendations, patiently. In the meantime I also patiently await the court of appeals' determination if the executive branch really does have the right to abrogate a duly passed set of public laws, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, as amended several times with bipartisam suppoort. Yucca is dead no matter what the outcome of that legal proces. No doubt by then the BRC's recommendations will have been codified into a new Nuclear Waste Policy Act and the cases will be moot, and that is OK by me, I don't advocate changing our form of government over this issue. But to me the opponents of Yucca are willing to change our form of government. That is why I think the country should know whether or not it is legal for the executive branch to choose to not implement policy set through the legislative process. It seems to me to be a breakdown of the balance between the executive and legislative functions, a balance that has typically been maintained by judicial branch rulings. I don't like tea, and I don't want to go to a party where it is the main course, but I do want the record to be set straight: do Public Laws duly passed by Congress and signed by a President not need to be followed by a succeeding President and his/her Executive Branch? I think that is what the Constitution intends, but I need an appeals court to figure this particular one out for me.
Future... It is obvious to me that you are employed by the "radiation industry". Your state uses nuclear power plants, keep it!!! It's not our waste, it's yours. Republician that you are, you are always in favor of a corporate take-over of MY Country. Forget about it!! There is not one person in Nevada that will put up with this nonsense. You LOVE your corporations?? The waste is being stored now where it is. Let it stay there!!! What's the problem??
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/no...
3 days ago in Spokane's news paper.....
Only Abe has touched on the bigger picture of what Obama, Reid, Chu and Jaczko are doing - ignoring a federal law. That no court has stopped them is appalling as well as deafening in what future Presidental illegal actions could occur.
This is the destruction of the US Constitution and historical precedence that a President must follow all laws. To keep saying that their lawyers have determined it is within the scope of law when the ASLB and common sense reading of the NWPA shows otherwise is truly Emperor's New Clothes mentality.
Obama, Reid and Jaczko are guilty of high crimes. One day history and hopefully the courts will penalize them severely.
YUCCA IS DEAD.
We Nevadans don't want that waste in our
beautiful state, PERIOD.
GET THAT THROUGH YOUR SICK, GREEDY REPUBLICAN
HEADS.
Send that nuclear waste to Texas or Arizona.
I am simply not convinced why southern Nevada does not need to have a national nuclear waste dump.
"Less Government" means turning the financial system over to the Bankers and Insurance Execs and let them set their own commissions and rules.
The Republicans (authored by Phil Gramm )finally succeeded in destroying the Glass Steagall (1933 Securities) Act and just 5 years later ANOTHER FINANCIAL MELTDOWN occurs and the Republicans STILL DO NOT WANT REGULATION.
"Less Government" means fast easy money at the top and bottom feeders get a second job to pay their bills. Break your leg and loose your life's savings to fix it. I feel a riot coming on.
The basic problem with Yucca Mountain is that it is too close, approximately 100 miles, from Las Vegas, therefore, any adverse impact, however, improbable can make our state lose even more than what we have lost already in the tourism industry of gambling.
Instead of having a centralized site to basically store the nuclear waste for the foreseeable future, an alternative is to develop regional recycling facilities closer to the point of generation; yes nuclear waste can be recycled. We, in Nevada, need to think of alternative usage for Yucca Mountain and one of the best that I can think of is as a long term food depository in case of a national emergency such as a major earthquake on the west coast, the detonation of the super volcano underneath Yellow Stone National Park, etc.
Hey ... It doesn't just affect those folks near and around Las Vegas. It could potentially contaminate cities across this nation when one of those trains headed for Yucca Mtn derails. It's my understanding that one of the proposed routes the trains would travel takes it right through downtown Winnemucca, NV. No ... just like we didn't want Recology's trash from California in our backyard, we don't want to see nuclear waste contaminating our home town when a train derails ... or worse when some foreign or domestic terrorist decides our town would make a good example and causes some sort of nuclear accident.
The science of Yucca is much more exact than that of Man-made gorebull warming.