President Bush on February 15 made a decision to go forward with the
Yucca Mountain site as the nation's first permanent repository for nuclear
waste, based on Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's conclusion that the
site is "scientifically and technically suitable." On April
8, Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn, as is his prerogative, announced a veto
of Bush's decision. Now Congress has 90 legislative days in which to
vote to overturn the governor's veto, if it so chooses. Barton's resolution,
which was approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday
on a 41-6 vote, would override the governor's veto.
Even if passed by both House and Senate, however, this resolution would
not immediately approve Yucca Mountain as a repository. Instead, it
would allow DOE to proceed to the next step, which is to submit a license
application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The NRC would
then have up to four years to review the evidence of the site's suitability,
and decide whether or not to issue a license.
In 1987, Congress amended the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to require that
DOE focus solely on Yucca Mountain as a possible site for spent fuel
from the nation's nuclear power plants. The Energy Department was required
to start accepting waste from the plants in 1998, but cannot comply
because no repository has yet been developed to store the waste. After
more than 20 years and $4 billion in research, and over 100 public hearings,
Abraham concluded, "I am convinced that...this research provides
a sound scientific basis for concluding that the site can perform safely
during both the pre- and post-closure periods, and that it is indeed
scientifically and technically suitable for development as a repository."
Abraham's recommendation to President Bush and other relevant DOE documents
regarding the Yucca Mountain site can be found at http://www.ymp.gov.
At an April 18 hearing of Barton's Energy and Commerce Subcommittee
on Energy and Air Quality, Abraham pointed out that a congressional
override of Governor Guinn's veto means that the issues surrounding
Yucca Mountain will be brought before the NRC as an "independent,
neutral, objective organization," while "failure to override
ends the Yucca Mountain project." Most subcommittee members were
in agreement that the process should move forward. Rep. John Dingell
(D-MI) stated that "the vast majority of Members of Congress are
not qualified to pass judgment on the specifics of the Secretary's findings....
That is why the Act requires DOE to obtain a license from the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission."
At the hearing, three members of the Nevada congressional delegation
spoke against the planned repository. Rep. Jim Gibbons urged that safer,
more innovative and less costly ways to dispose of nuclear waste be
sought. Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) raised concerns about accidents
while transporting the waste and noted that since spent fuel must remain
in cooling pools at nuclear plants for several years before being moved,
a repository would not eliminate waste stored at plants, but simply
add one more waste site. Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) charged that "from
the beginning...our state has been the victim of Washington power politics,"
and questioned the vulnerability to terrorist attacks of waste being
shipped across the country. Although Governor Guinn was unable to attend
the hearing, his submitted testimony quoted the conclusion of a peer
review report by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development's Nuclear Energy Agency that
"DOE's level of understanding of the hydrogeology of the site is
'low, unclear, and insufficient to support an assessment of realistic
performance.'"
Ms. Gary Jones of the General Accounting Office testified that there
are nearly 300 issues upon which DOE needs to provide further information
to NRC in the process of applying for a license. She declared, "DOE
is not prepared to submit an acceptable license application to the NRC"
within the statutory 90-day period that would follow a congressional
override of the veto. Abraham acknowledged that DOE would not be ready
to submit an application within that period, but indicated that he hoped
to submit an application by the end of 2004.
Also testifying was Dr. Jared Cohon, chair of the U.S. Nuclear Waste
Technical Review Board, which was established by Congress for ongoing
independent evaluation of DOE's activities on this matter. While making
no judgment on whether Yucca Mountain should be approved, Cohon reported
that the Board finds "the technical basis" for DOE's estimates
of Yucca Mountain performance to be "weak to moderate at this time."
The full House is expected to approve Barton's resolution, possibly
within the next two weeks, but the fate of the resolution in the Senate
is not so clear. The entire Nevada congressional delegation opposes
siting a repository at Yucca Mountain, and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), as
Senate Majority Whip, has a great deal of influence in that chamber.
The Senate must approve the resolution by 51 votes. An ongoing survey
by National Journal's CongressDaily currently shows 40 senators supporting
an override of Nevada's veto, 15 against it, 32 as yet undecided, and
13 who did not respond.
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