Yucca Mountain crumbles amid politics, stonewalling

When it comes to nuclear-ener gy advancement in the United States, President Barack Obama has mastered the arts of deception and self-contradiction.

On the one hand, the chief executive uses reason to staunchly advocate expansion of nuclear power to meet the nation’s expanding alternative-energy needs.

On the other hand, the chief executive uses politics and gamesmanship to staunchly oppose advancement of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the preferred site to store the nation’s rapidly increasing tonnage of potentially dangerous nuclear-energy waste.

Obama, and by extension, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, cannot have it both ways. As scientists and government leaders acknowledged more than three decades ago, America cannot safely expand its nuclear-energy capacity without having a centralized storage location for the dangerous waste products it produces.

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 70,000 tons of that waste are temporarily stored at 131 sites with more than 2,000 tons of additional waste generated yearly.

Ever since 1978 when Congress and the NRC first targeted it as a preferred depository site for the nation, Yucca Mountain has been a lightning rod in the nuclear debate. Initially slated to open in 1998, President George W. Bush finally signed legislation to build the repository there in 2002. Yet, scare mongering, political ploys and irrational Not-In-My-Backyard stonewalling have stymied progress.

By some estimates, abandoning the Yucca Mountain repository now could leave the federal government, meaning American taxpayers, legally liable for up to $60 billion in wasted planning costs and legal damages. Today, the project barely clings to life. Consider:

This year the Obama administration, at the urging of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., terminated funding for the Yucca Mountain effort in the Department of Energy budget

Project offices for Yucca Mountain closed in Washington and Las Vegas two months ago.

The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has directed agency scientists to halt formal review of the nuclear waste site.

This chain reaction of setbacks is disappointing and irresponsible for public policy and for public safety. Painstaking and costly research over three decades has targeted the Nevada mountain site as the most suitable location for storage of the nation’s nuclear waste. It also has shown the greater likelihood of danger posed by the current system of temporary sites scattered in nooks and crannies throughout the country.

Lest we forget, radiation wastes absorbed by the cells and tissues of the body cause cancer and genetic damage for generations to come.

Action mode

Fortunately, time remains to move Yucca Mountain from sleep mode to action mode. Just this month, the U.S. Department of Energy asked the NRC for permission to withdraw the two-year-old license application, but the four NRC commissioners were deadlocked. Now the NRC has issued an order for all parties to report by Jan. 21 where they stand on the construction licensing process so that a final decision can be made.

In the meantime, the Obama administration has formed the Blue Ribbon Commission for America’s Nuclear Future. This group has been charged with crafting proposals for long-term nuclear waste storage.

Ensuring safe centralized disposal of our spent nuclear fuel cannot wait any longer. America is now the world’s largest producer of nuclear power.

It’s critical that Congress, including our delegations from the Mahoning and Shenango valleys, respond expeditiously to the NRC’s call with a recognition that America can ill afford to let the Yucca Mountain proposal crumble.