US Report OKs Nuke Storage Site

Aug. 24, 2001 -- Moving one step closer to a permanent home for America's nuclear waste, the Department of Energy on Tuesday released a preliminary report suggesting Nevada's Yucca Mountain is a scientifically and environmentally sound site.

Supporters of nuclear energy called the DOE report the biggest step yet toward the development of the proposed Yucca Mountain underground nuclear storage facility.

"This scientific report is the most significant milestone accomplished to date in the federal government's effort to develop a geological disposal facility," said Joe F. Colvin, president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a nuclear industry trade and lobbying group.

"Most significantly," Colvin said, "the report clearly demonstrates there is a scientific basis for making a decision to proceed to the next steps."

The DOE report admits there is a chance that radioactive waste stored in an underground facility at Yucca Mountain, which is located on federal land, could escape into the environment. But the report concluded that technological safeguards could reduce that risk significantly so that any seepage would be unlikely to occur for at least 10,000 years.

Deep and Dry

The basic strategy for safe waste storage takes advantage of Yucca Mountain's extremely dry climate: Keep the radioactive materials as dry as possible, for as long as possible, so water can't break them down and carry them away.

Any waste stored in the underground repository would be in solid form and, before placement, would need to be sealed in extremely durable, double-shelled containers. While sealed in such containers deep underground, waste radiation wouldn't be able to harm people or contaminate the environment, according to the report.

The report also recommends preliminary designs for the proposed storage site's surface and subsurface facilities, including more than 50 miles of tunnels about 660 to 1,600 feet beneath the surface of the mountain and 1,000 feet above the water table.

The designs also include a number of man-made seepage barriers, including corrosion-resistant, double-shelled disposal containers; corrosion-resistant supports; and titanium drip shields, which would work with the natural environment to further protect against the breakdown and movement of radioactive materials.

Political Nightmare

The report is the latest in 40 years of research — the last 20 years of which have focused solely on Yucca Mountain — into a suitable home for the United States' growing mounds of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. Such waste results from nuclear weapons production, the operation of naval reactors, and nuclear power plants, which supply about 20 percent of the country's energy.

But ever since the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, grass-roots opposition to nuclear power has been strong in America. Finding a suitable storage site for nuclear waste has proved a political as well as scientific nightmare.

While the report finds that Yucca Mountain meets public health and safety standards for radioactive waste storage set by the Environmental Protection Agency, construction at the site still needs to overcome red tape.

Remaining Hurdles

For one thing, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham still needs to recommend the site officially to President Bush, who must in turn present the project to Congress for approval.

But before that happens, the residents of Nevada will get the chance to weigh in on the proposed site during public hearings and an open comment period. Spencer also is directing that the study be sent to a number of leaders in the scientific community, including opponents of the project.

"Any decision regarding a permanent repository for this nation's nuclear waste will be made based on sound science," Abraham said in a statement.

Abraham is expected to decide by the end of this year whether or not to recommend the site to Bush.