Sunday, March 07, 2010
Yucca Mountain, north entrance (photo: Daniel Mayer)
Twenty three years after the federal government targeted it as the nation’s underground dump for nuclear waste, Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is headed for closure. President Barack Obama followed through on his campaign promise to shut down the controversial site by instructing the U.S. Department of Energy to formally withdraw its license application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the final step that would have led to Yucca Mountain being approved to accept waste from nuclear reactors around the country.
Concerns over the risk of radiation leaking from the underground repository into water supplies produced heated opposition from politicians in Nevada, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D). As the top man in the Senate, Reid’s cutoff of funding for the project and the Energy Department’s pulling of its license application “with prejudice” makes it unlikely Yucca will ever open for business.
However, Nevada officials won’t rest easy until Congress amends the federal law adopted in 1987 that officially listed Yucca Mountain as the country’s sole repository for nuclear waste.
The Obama administration is forming a commission to study other possible solutions for storing the waste that’s been piling up for decades. Former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton and one-time national security advisor Brent Scrowcroft will lead the 18-month effort. Also, the Energy Department is merging the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, which oversaw Yucca Mountain, with the Office of Nuclear Energy.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Yucca Mountain Foes Hail Historic Step to Kill Nuclear Waste Depository (by Lisa Mascaro, Las Vegas Sun)
Obama to Zero Out Yucca Mountain Funding, Pull License (by Lisa Mascaro, Las Vegas Sun)
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