Global Security Newswire

The Obama administration's assertion that a planned nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada would not be safe are not borne out by the finding's of the nation's atomic regulator, Republicans said on Wednesday (see GSN, June 2).

Republican staff of the House Science, Space And Technology Committee stated that an unpublished Nuclear Regulatory Commission safety assessment found that the Yucca project was in line with regulatory standards, Reuters reported.

A number of GOP and Democratic lawmakers are upset with the White House's 2010 move to withdraw a license application to build the national nuclear waste repository. The Republican-led House committee said the Energy Department did not have scientific justification for scuttling the project.

"Despite numerous suggestions by political officials -- including President Obama -- that Yucca Mountain is unsafe for storing nuclear waste, the committee could not identify a single document to support such a claim," a Republican staff report says.

"To the contrary, the committee found great agreement among the scientific and technical experts responsible for reviewing the suitability of Yucca Mountain ... that nuclear waste can be safely stored at the site for tens of thousands of years," i addes.

The Obama administration has convened a blue-ribbon panel to explore alternatives for housing the nation's atomic fuel waste.

While an NRC licensing panel informed the Energy Department it did not have the power to cancel the Yucca project, the administration has appealed that verdict to the entire Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has yet to give its formal ruling on the matter (Emily Stephenson, Reuters, June 8).