What's Happening at Yucca Mountain — 2005 / 2006 Update

The Short List

The Department of Energy (DOE) has now spent about $8 billion on research and development for the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The repository is located about 70 miles from Las Vegas (i.e., from the northwest "urban edge" of the Las Vegas valley). President Bush and Congress approved the project in 2002. Since 2002 there has been a series of recent setbacks to the program including:

• A federal appeals court in July 2004 threw out EPA's radiation standard for the repository;
• The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently invalidated an electronic document database that was required for the repository licensing process;
• In 2005 congressional investigators raised questions about the quality of work conducted by DOE and its management contractor for Yucca Mountain, Bechtel SAIC;
• DOE recently issued stop-work orders related to "project design" in an attempt to simplify previous plans for transporting and handling spent fuel;
• In 2005 it was disclosure that several U.S. Geological Survey hydrologists had discussed possible falsification of quality assurance documents (through emails) concerning water infiltration at the site. DOE has spent more than $1 million to check the allegations; and
• In March 2006 Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told lawmakers that the Yucca Mountain Project was "broken," and he appealed for patience as he vowed to get it fixed (see News Link)
• In April 2006 the administration sent its Yucca Mountain bill to Congress. Among other things, the bill removes Yucca's 70,000-metric-ton capacity limit for nuclear waste; it abolishes Department of Transportation, NRC, Surface Transportation Board, and state authority over nuclear waste transport; it eliminates any applicability of our nation's hazardous waste disposal and local air quality control laws; and it would withdraw permanently from public use 147,000 acres of federal land in Nevada.