Bush Admin. Wants to Bury More Nuke Waste

[cal04]

The Bush administration wants to bury tens of thousands more tons of nuclear waste at the Yucca Mountain dump in Nevada than is now allowed - part of a package of new proposals meant to spur development of the long-delayed dump. Legislation unveiled by Energy Department officials Tuesday proposes lifting the 77,000-ton storage cap on the dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas and allowing as much waste as the mountain can safely hold. That figure has been estimated by federal environmental impact studies at 132,000 tons.

Some 55,000 tons of nuclear waste are already waiting at utility sites around the country. Lifting the waste cap would postpone indefinitely the need for the Energy Department to find a site for a second nuclear waste dump, the department said. The department also proposed dedicating money in a special nuclear waste fund, which is paid for by utilities, to the dump to try to ensure adequate funding. The bill also would allow federal officials, who hope to ship nuclear waste to the dump by rail, to pre-empt state and local transportation regulations.

Certain non-nuclear elements of the dump - including the rail line to get there - could be built before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issues a license needed to build the dump. Nuclear material transported to Yucca would be exempt from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a federal law that gives the Environmental Protection Agency control over environmental problems from hazardous wastes.

``This proposed legislation will help provide stability, clarity and predictability to the Yucca Mountain project,'' Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in a statement. The bill will be introduced in the Senate by Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M. With time running out on the legislative calendar, it faces a fight from ardent Yucca Mountain dump opponent Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Senate minority leader.

Reid said Tuesday the bill was ``not even on life support. It's dead when it gets here.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5733969,00.html

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Hey, Plenty of space available at the TX White House!

With all that cleared brush, the land is a-ready fer diggin' 'n' buryin'!

[enlightenment]

2. Why do they keep insisting that "the dump"

isn't built yet? The damn thing is past the planning stage, for certain.

This is the Eureka county web site about the project (Yucca Mountain is in Eureka County).

Here are pictures (taken in 2001)
http://www.yuccamountain.org/photo04.htm

This page has great maps -- proposed transporatation corridors, etc.
http://www.yuccamountain.org/map.htm

[Nevernose]

4. Because it isn't?

They haven't even finished studying the site. Of course, they decided back in '88 that they woudln't study any site that wasn't in Nevada, so it doesn't really matter. As soon as Texas, California, and Vermont all started looking like better options, it was written into law that it was going to Yucca Mtn. in Nevada.

Besides the fact that we haven't even finished studying to see if it'll be safe or not, there was one of those earthquakes that happens every ten thousand years. Twice. Had to start building from scratch after that. Of course, the fact that Yucca Mountain is a dormant volcano sitting on 17 active fault lines couldn't have anything to do with the earthquakes, or the safety, or the groundwater problems.

And of the studies that were completed, many of them were faked.

The level of radiation they want stored in Yucca Mountain is equivalent to taking every nuclear device ever detonated at the NTS, and blowing them up in a single day. Every day, for as much as a hundred thousand years.

A better solution for Nevada and the nation as a whole might be to pass forced conservation laws and taxes on things like energy-inefficient lightbulbs, energy-inefficient building practices, gas-guzzling SUVs, etc., and just shut down the nuclear reactors completely. Solar power stations are now cost effective enough, with the price of oil and nuclear energy, to fuel pretty much all of our needs.

Besides which, the waste at nuclear reactors has been sitting there just fine for fifty years. If the transport vessels are so damned safe, why not put all the radioactive waste in them and leave 'em where they're at?

[enlightenment]

5. No offense, but I wasn't looking for a primer

on Yucca Mountain. I talk about it at least once a semester, every year (when I'm teaching Nevada history). That doesn't make me an expert, but I am at least semi-informed.

I didn't say it was finished -- I said the actual building was well on its way. Take a look at the link -- the photos are from a tour that members of the Eureka County government took to the site in 2001. The fact (fact) that they have bored a 5 mile tunnel and installed a substantial amount of equipment suggests that they are, indeed, working on the site even though they do not have the license to do so.

I don't disagree with your feelings about it -- I live in Las Vegas and I'm not really thrilled with the whole idea. That they have been treating this like a fait accompli only makes it that much worse.

[Nevernose]

9. Damn my inferences!

It seemed to me from your OP that you were in favor of the Repository and implying that it was ready for business (they certainly alrady want to to store waste there), two assumptions that just ticks me off.

As far as a primer is concerned, I apologize for lecturing you. However, I think it's important to recognize the fact that there are a whole lot of folks besides you and me who have read this exchange -- even if they don't post and even if the thread seems to tank -- and hopefully have learned something new besides government spin.

For those people, check out http://www.citizenalert.org/ for more information on the proposed nuke dump.

[enlightenment]

10. And mine, as well!

Looking back to my OP, it's clear that I expected that the phrase 'that damn thing' would successfully indicate my position.

I apologize for the huffy reply.

I point folks to the Eureka County site because it's neither blatantly pro or con nor an 'official' government web site. Plus, it has those photos. The official government web site simply says that the site is 'in planning stages' -- covering up the amount of actual work that has been accomplished.

I like Citizen Alert; they've done yeoman work keeping this alive -- particularly when it seems like most of the US is perfectly okay with the idea of the repository, as long as it isn't in their backyards.

[rodeodance]

7. I recall some of this. Thanks.

[IsItJustMe]

3. They have already found one way of getting rid of it. It's called

depleted uranium. They have been deposting now for some time. Nasty stuff from what I hear.

[Tesha]

8. What are you talking about? DU isn't "Nuclear waste". (NT)

[MichiganVote]

6. Crawford or Iraq Bush, your choice

[Supersedeas]

11. Remember Dimson's campaign pledge -- NV voters bought it.