To expand nuclear energy, stop stonewalling Yucca

To expand nuclear energy, stop stonewalling Yucca

In the shadows of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and massive public protests, the growth of nuclear energy in the United States has lain dormant for decades.

Today, in the face of spiraling costs and unquenchable demands for electricity, nuclear power as a viable renewable energy resource has gained new luster. Both major presidential candidates acknowledge as much.

Indeed the nation’s nuclear energy industry is undergoing a renaissance with more than two dozen applications for new reactors planned in 15 states. For perspective, the newest operating reactor in the United States opened 30 years ago.

But perhaps the most tangible sign of the seriousness of the resurgence is the U.S. government’s formal application last month to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as the permanent storage repository for 77,000 tons of radioactive wastes from throughout the country.

Located in the Nevada desert 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Yucca Mountain would be the only permanent nuclear waste storage facility in the country. Today, some 60,000 tons of that waste are temporarily stored at 126 sites with 2,000 tons of additional and dangerous waste generated yearly.

Yucca as lightning rod

For 30 years now, Yucca has been a flash point in the nuclear debate. Initially slated to open in 1998, President Bush finally signed legislation to build the repository there in 2002. Yet, scare mongering, political ploys and Not-In-My-Backyard hysteria have stalled formal application until now.

House Majority Leader Harry Reid and other ardent critics of the plan argue that the Yucca repository represents unsound science, a safety threat to Americans living on the rail path to the mountain and an invitation to terrorism.

But after three decades of starts and stops and more than $7 billion in investment from American taxpayers, it is now long past time to aggressively move on the project. The plan has been well thought out, well planned and, as far as it has gone, well executed.

Numerous studies have concluded that Yucca Mountain is an ideal place to store the deadly materials. Safety tests have shown radioactive wastes can be stored inside the mountain with little or no chance of harming human health for thousands of years in the future.

In contrast, the current system of 126 temporary repositories in 39 states pose clear risks. With nuclear waste dispersed across the nation, the likelihood for accidents and terrorist strikes is multiplied dozens of times over.

Clearly the time for study is long over. The sooner the NRC acts to approve the 8,600-page Yucca Mountain application, the sooner the U.S. can more easily and more safely expand its use of clean and renewable nuclear energy.

To that end, our Valley and state congressional delegations should urge the NRC to expedite approval of the application and construction of the repository.