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Nuclear Waste: Should Officials Delay Yucca Mountain Decision? The U.S. Energy Department believes that a congressional report’s recommendation to delay a decision on Yucca Mountain is “profoundly flawed,” Electricity Daily reported today (see GSN, Dec. 18). “The proposed report asks, in effect, ‘Why now?’ about making a site determination regarding the Yucca Mountain project,” said a department official. “What it realistically leaves unanswered is ‘Then when?’” the Energy Department said (Electricity Daily, Jan. 3). Congressional researchers said any decision to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain “may be premature,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. A report last month from the U.S. General Accounting Office said that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham “has the discretion to make such a recommendation at this time; however, we question the prudence and practicality of making such a recommendation at this time.” The GAO said that if Abraham chooses to recommend Yucca Mountain as a waste storage site, the Energy Department would not be able to submit an acceptable license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the time limit set by law, according to the Review-Journal. According to the GAO, a license application would need to be submitted five to eight months after President George W. Bush and Congress approve the decision to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. It could take up to four years, however, for Bechtel SAIC, the managing contractor for the repository, to resolve nearly 300 technical agreements with the NRC. These agreements include plans to conduct in-depth analysis of Yucca Mountain’s geology and the containers that would store the waste, according to the Journal-Review. “We continue to believe [Abraham] should consider the timing of this statutory process as he decides when to make a site recommendation,” the GAO said. The Energy Department had a more favorable view of the final GAO report than of an earlier draft, according to the Journal-Review. “We are glad the GAO has acknowledged in the final report that the secretary has the discretion to make a decision on Yucca Mountain suitability at this time,” said Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis (Steve Tetreault, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Dec. 22). Click here to read the December 2001 GAO report, “Nuclear Waste: Technical, Schedule, and Cost Uncertainties of the Yucca Mountain Repository Project.”
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