Yucca Mountain News Clips - Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Yucca Mountain News Clips
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
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State of Nevada
November 12, 2003

If Not Yucca Mountain, Then What?

http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2003/pdf/alternatives.pdf

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Reno Gazette-Journal
November 11, 2003

Scientists find cat litter ingredient could help absorb nuclear waste

LAS VEGAS — The same mineral that absorbs the ammonia smell in cat litter might naturally trap some toxic remnants of nuclear waste at a planned nuclear dump in the Nevada desert, a team of scientists found.

But more research is needed about whether hot temperatures generated by decomposing radioactive materials would affect the absorption rate, according to a report by David Bish, an Indiana University mineralogy professor.

Bish reports on the mountain´s makeup of zeolites in an article published Monday in American Mineralogist, the journal of the Mineralogical Society of America. The report focuses on layers below the disposal site that are rich in zeolites — fine, tan-colored grains used in many brands of cat litter.

The study also looks at project managers´ reliance on man-made barriers to contain radiation from the 77,000 tons of nuclear waste the Energy Department plans to begin entombing at Yucca Mountain in 2010.

An official with a pro-nuclear lobbying group said it was not immediately clear whether the study could come into play when the Energy Department applies next year to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate the repository.

“At this point, it is impossible to say what the impact of this study will be on Yucca Mountain,’ said Rod McCullum, a senior project manager at the Nuclear Energy Institute. “The paper concludes that these temperature effects are important — but doesn´t conclude whether it´s important in a good way or a bad way.’

Bish, a former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist, has conducted Yucca Mountain research since the 1980s. His article derives from a study involving four scientists at the New Mexico lab.

None of the researchers still works on the Yucca Mountain project, and Bish said the federal Energy Department had no hand in the study.

The report suggests that zeolite deposits can attract positively charged ions of radioactive cesium, barium and strontium given off by decomposition of spent nuclear fuel and industrial and military waste.

However, the study said a zeolite barrier might not absorb some longer-lived toxic byproducts of decaying spent nuclear fuel.

The substance might also absorb and release water moving through the mountain, making the repository better able to handle high-temperature waste storage, the study said.

Energy Department plans call for storing radioactive waste in special metal alloy canisters in tunnels 1,000 feet below Yucca Mountain.

Opinions vary about when those casks might decay, and whether the mountain itself would contain or leak radioactivity.

Bish said he wants to know more about how radioactive material could change the geology, mineralogy and hydrology of the mountain. Experts say all will affect the ability of the mountain to contain the waste.

Congress last year picked Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the nation´s nuclear waste dump.

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Reno Gazette-Journal
November 12, 2003

Abraham expects to meet goal to file for Yucca license

LAS VEGAS — Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said it won´t be easy, but the Department of Energy will file a license application for a Nevada nuclear waste repository by its goal of December 2004.

Abraham said Monday in Washington, D.C., that a 2004 energy budget that Congress formed last week should contain enough money for the Energy Department to finish preparing a licensing package for the Yucca Mountain project.

“I believe we will meet our target,’ Abraham said, following a speech at the National Press Club. “It won´t be easy because we have always been kept below the funding levels we have requested.’

Abraham said Congress also must give the Energy Department enough money to develop a transportation program to ship radioactive spent fuel to the proposed repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

“We plan to engage states in that process,’ he said. “It´s a priority but it´s part of an ongoing process right now that will also require sufficient funding.’

Energy Department officials say Congress has underfunded the project more than $700 million in recent years. Many cuts from department requests have been engineered by U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who has sought to slow the project while Nevada organizes opposition to it.

Last week, negotiators writing a new Energy Department spending bill settled on $580 million for the Yucca Mountain project next year.

The amount was $11 million less than what President Bush had requested, but several lawmakers said they were told it would be enough for the Energy Department to submit its license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The commission is expected to take three or four years to weigh the plan to begin entombing 77,000 tons of the nation´s most radioactive commercial, industrial and military waste at the repository in 2010.

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Power Engineering
November 10, 2003

NEI pleased that Yucca Mountain funding for FY04 nearly reaches administration request

WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 10, 2003 -- U.S. Senate and House of Representatives conferees have recently approved an Energy and Water Development appropriations bill for fiscal year 2004.

The spending measure includes funding for the federal government's nuclear waste management program, which will receive $580 million in the current fiscal year.

The following is a statement from John Kane, NEI senior vice president of governmental affairs.

"The nuclear energy industry is pleased that appropriations conferees, acting in bipartisan fashion, have nearly met the Administration's $591 million budget request for the nuclear waste management program. The $580 million approved by conferees will go a long way toward helping the Department of Energy meet its goal of submitting a license application in December 2004 for the planned Yucca Mountain repository.

"At the same time, the industry is disappointed that conferees did not accede to the $765 million appropriation for Yucca Mountain approved by the House of Representatives last July. This amount would have funded important parts of the program that have been underfunded in past years and allowed DOE to catch up to schedule. The government's nuclear waste management program is an environmental priority, and it is imperative that Congress provide the funding necessary for the Department of Energy to meet critical program milestones.

"The FY04 funding rightly supports Congress's decision last year approving Yucca Mountain as a permanent underground disposal facility for used nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants and high-level radioactive waste from U.S. defense programs. Members of Congress clearly are putting the national interest first, and our environment and national security will be better for it."

For more information, visit www.nei.org.

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Las Vegas SUN
November 11, 2003

Abraham confident department will make Yucca deadline

By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas SUN

WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department is confident it will meet its December 2004 deadline to submit an application for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage site to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Monday.

"This will not be easy," Abraham said, when asked about the recent $11 million cut to the project after a speech at the National Press Club.

House and Senate negotiations on the 2004 energy and water spending bill ended last week with a $580 million final budget for the Yucca project, a decrease from the $591 million requested by the administration. The department intends to store 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel in the mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"You know, throughout this project, there's been a challenge for us, not only in terms of the mechanical challenges that you face (with) a project of this magnitude, but we haven't received the funding levels which have been requested, and then we're criticized when we don't meet deadlines that were dependent on having sufficient funds to conduct the work that's required," Abraham said.

"I believe we will meet our target," Abraham said. "It won't be easy because we have been always kept a little below the funding level that we have requested. But we have a terrific team of people that work on radioactive waste in this department, and they're going to get their job done."

Sen. Harry Reid, the top Democrat on the Senate appropriations committee that crafts the energy and water spending bill each year, has successfully cut the Yucca budget for years.

The nuclear industry and the department have argued that the project has been underfunded by more than $700 million below the administration's request even though the Nuclear Waste Fund has billions of dollars in it waiting to be used on the program.

The DOE has not determined transportation routes to move the waste across the country to Nevada, and Abraham said Monday he could not say when the agency would.

"That's an evolutionary process that requires a number of steps to take place. We engage states in that process, as I think people know. So it's a priority, but it's part of this ongoing process forward," Abraham said. " I will also say that doing it right will also require sufficient funding. And so, it's an important thing for us to have the funds we require for these programs, or else it takes longer to do them."

After it receives the Yucca Mountain application, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has three and possibly four years to review the document. It would then decide to grant a construction license so the department could begin to build the site.

But the state and other opponents to the site are hoping the project will be stopped by the courts. A Jan. 14 court date has been set in Washington for a federal court to hear several legal challenges against the site.

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Las Vegas SUN
November 11, 2003

Abraham says Nevada nuke dump permit application will be on time

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said it won't be easy, but the Department of Energy will file a license application for a Nevada nuclear waste repository by its goal of next December.

"I believe we will meet our target," Abraham said following a speech at the National Press Club. "It won't be easy because we have always been kept below the funding levels we have requested.

Abraham said Congress also must give the Energy Department enough money to develop a transportation program to ship radioactive spent fuel to the proposed repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"We plan to engage states in that process," he said. "It's a priority but it's part of an ongoing process right now that will also require sufficient funding."

Energy Department officials say Congress has underfunded the project more than $700 million in recent years. Many cuts from department requests have been engineered by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who has sought to slow the project while Nevada organizes opposition to it.

Last week, negotiators writing a new Energy Department spending bill settled on $580 million for the Yucca Mountain Project next year.

The commission is expected to take three or four years to weigh the plan to begin entombing 77,000 tons of the nation's most radioactive commercial, industrial and military waste at the repository in 2010.

The Yucca Mountain plan still faces legal opposition from the state of Nevada and environmental organizations.

Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal

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Las Vegas Review-Journal
November 11, 2003

DOE secretary upbeat about Yucca Mountain deadline

Abraham says proposed funding should keep project on schedule

By Steve Tetreault
Stephens Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Monday that the Department of Energy will file a license application for a Nevada nuclear waste repository by its goal of next December, but "this will not be easy."

Abraham said a 2004 energy budget that Congress formed last week should contain enough money for DOE to finish preparing a complex licensing package for the Yucca Mountain Project.

"Yes I am confident," Abraham said of the department being able to meet its schedule, when he was asked following a speech at the National Press Club.

But, Abraham added, "this will not be easy" because DOE has had to overcome financial shortfalls from previous years.

"Throughout (the process) this project there has been a challenge for us not just of the mechanical challenges facing a project of this magnitude but we haven't received the funding levels we had requested," he said.

"I believe we will meet our target," Abraham said. "It won't be easy because we have always been kept below the funding levels we have requested."

Abraham also warned that Congress must give DOE enough money to form a transportation program to ship radioactive spent fuel to the proposed repository 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"We plan to engage states in that process," he said. "It's a priority but it's part of an ongoing process right now that will also require sufficient funding."

DOE officials have estimated Congress has underfunded the project more than $700 million in recent years below what the department requested. Many of the cuts have been engineered by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who has sought to slow down the project while Nevada organizes opposition to it.

Last week, negotiators writing a new Energy Department spending bill settled on $580 million for the Yucca Mountain Project next year.

The amount was $11 million less than what President Bush had requested, but several lawmakers said they were told the spending would be enough for DOE to get the license application done.

"We had a number of experts who run the program say this will keep the program on schedule," said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.

DOE will present its licensing bid to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, initiating a new step in the government's consideration of a nuclear waste repository.

The NRC is expected to take three or four years to weigh a repository license.

DOE officials have set a 2010 opening for a Yucca Mountain repository although the project faces continuing financial challenges in Congress and legal opposition from the state of Nevada and environmental organizations.