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RADIOACTIVE WASTE NEWS
Monday, November 9, 2009
DOE To Abandon Yucca Licensing Effort Next Month
BY JEFF BEATTIE
The Energy Department plans to abandon next month its Yucca Mountain license application pending before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to internal DOE documents obtained by The Energy Daily, a move intended to bury the proposed Nevada nuclear waste repository for good.
In the meantime, sources say the White House and DOE have been engaged in considerable debate over whom to name to a "blue ribbon" panel that Energy Secretary Steven Chu is forming to identify waste disposal alternatives to the Yucca project, which President Obama says is unsafe.
Rumored candidates for the panel include former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft; former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.); former Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Shirley Jackson, who is currently president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and University of California astrophysics professor George Smoot, who some say Chu has favored to chair the panel.
DOE’s accelerating effort to wind down Yucca Mountain is made clear by draft DOE documents obtained by The Energy Daily last week on the agency’s fiscal year 2011 budget. The documents show DOE will request only $46.2 million for Yucca in fiscal 2011—all of it aimed at closing the project.
The draft budget, dated October 23, would set aside half those funds for "archiving" project data and the rest for "transitioning" workers out of the Nevada site. More immediately significant is DOE’s plan to abandon its license application for Yucca."All license defense activities will be terminated in December 2009," says the budget request.That means DOE would stop responding to NRC staff questions about technical aspects of the giant application, virtually guaranteeing that NRC could not approve it.
For supporters of Yucca, continued progress at NRC has represented the best remaining hope that the project might survive.
Although the Obama administration has said for months that it plans to develop a different option for managing U.S. nuclear waste, Chu has maintained that DOE should continue work on Yucca application to better understand NRC’s criteria for a potential future disposal site.
More significantly, knowledgeable sources believe DOE has continued work on the Yucca license largely to forestall lawsuits from U.S. nuclear utilities, who might otherwise allege that DOE was violating the Nuclear Waste Policy Act which, as amended, generally directs DOE to develop Yucca.
But another source said Friday that it would be "difficult to charge DOE was doing anything illegal" if it did not request or get any money for continued development of Yucca.
Asked Friday about DOE’s plan to end work on the Yucca application, and whether DOE thought it would expose them to any legal challenges, Energy Department spokeswoman Stephanie Mueller said only that "the administration’s position on Yucca Mountain has not changed. "The president and Secretary Chu have made it clear that nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain is not an option, period. The 2010 budget clearly reflects the president’s commitment to moving beyond Yucca Mountain and developing a long- term waste management solution." While DOE’s fiscal 2010 budget includes $149 million for Yucca, the draft fiscal 2011 budget sets a "target" request of $46.2 million, "of which [$21.2 million] shall support site remediation and worker transition and [$25 million] shall support archiving of data associated with the Yucca Mountain Program."
Attached to the draft budget request is a memo from DOE Chief Financial Officer Steve Isakowitz to DOE budget officers. In the memo, Isakowitz said the budget request had recently been submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget.
He says Chu has not given final approvals to the budget decisions, but that "we do not expect the information to change."
Utilities have already won nearly $600 million in court awards from DOE stemming from the department’s failure begin disposing of the utilities’ spent fuel in Yucca beginning in 1998, a date the two sides agreed upon in a set of 1983 contracts.
Several sources said Friday that it was unclear how DOE’s abandonment of the Yucca license application might affect those cases, if at all. However, other sources say that if DOE abandons the Yucca Mountain license application, it will have an increasingly difficult time justifying continuing collecting fees from ratepayers for the so-called Nuclear Waste Fund (NWF). The NWF is legally intended for use in developing a national spent fuel repository, but lawmakers have routinely used the money for other purposes, to the ire of nuclear utilities and state utility commissioners. Both groups have increased calls for DOE to halt collection of the fees since the administration announced plans to end the Yucca project earlier this year, arguing it was unjustifiable to continue collecting money for a project that was ending.And one source said DOE’s ending of license application work at NRC could fuel that argument.
That move DOE would amplify the "question as to whether DOE can rightfully continue to collect fees of more than $700 million per year if there were no program," the source said Friday. "And I think industry would really push on that."
Sources say DOE also might face tough questions from congressional appropriators if it abandons the Yucca license next month. One source said appropriators may think the agency is improperly "reprogramming" money if it uses fiscal 2010 appropriations intended for work on the Yucca license for other purposes.
More broadly, many Republicans and some moderate Democrats—particularly in the House—are generally unhappy with the Obama administration’s decision to end Yucca. Many think the decision to kill Yucca was aimed at fulfilling a political promise that Obama made to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)—an ardent Yucca foe—when Obama was running for president and needed Reid’s support. Chu, however, says Yucca is poor disposal site, that relevant science has improved since the site was picked in the 1980s and that the nation can find a better option with the help of the planned blue-ribbon panel.Although most Nevada officials oppose Yucca, Reid has been the best-positioned and most active in trying to kill the project, which he says is unsafe and was foisted onto his state in political deal-making years ago.
However, Reid is facing a very tough re-election fight next fall, and currently trails likely GOP challenger and Nevada Republican Party Chairwoman Susan Lowden by 8.4 points as of October 19, according to an average of polls from the Real Clear Politics Web site.
That raises the possibility that the administration may be sinking a project that has been studied for two decades, at a cost of about $10 billion, at the behest of a politician who may gone in a year.Reid’s electoral trouble in Nevada "make this all the more interesting—why would they [the administration] want to walk the plank here for Reid?" asked one glum pro-Yucca source last week.
One answer is surely that Obama needs Reid badly to help carry out legislative priorities that he sees as far bigger than Yucca Mountain, namely health care, climate change and regulation of the financial industry.
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UNITED STATES NUCLEAR INFRASTRUCTURE COUNCIL
NICHeads-Up:
DOE & Yucca Mountain License Application November 9, 2009
Trade press reports over the weekend confirmed early soundings -- vetted in the NIC Members Conference Call of October 30th -- that the DOE is seeking to accelerate the defunding of the Yucca Mountain license application to as early as the end of this calendar year (2009). According to DOE documents cited in the stories, the Department is proposing to utilize the balance of the $192 million in funds appropriated for Yucca Mountain licensing in FY2010 for accelerated site shutdown leaving a diminutive $46 million request for the program in FY2011. Shutdown costs have purportedly been estimated at $150 million to more than $200 million. The action, which requires Office of Management and Budget concurrence, also faces push back from Congressional appropriators, who just approved the FY2010 budget in October allowing continued funding for the license application for the entirety of the fiscal year. The Council is a co-signer of a recent letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu with 18 other national and regional organizations (including the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners; U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition; Institute for 21st Century Energy and Sustainable Fuel Cycle Task Force) expressing "growing concern over reports that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will decline to seek funding... for continuation of the Yucca Mountain license application now pending before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)." . The letter encourages the Administration to continue with the current approach of providing "costs necessary to answer inquires from the NRC, while the Administration devises a new strategy toward nuclear waste disposal," as stipulated in the President's budget submission to Congress in February. The letter said the termination of the Yucca Mountain license application "would be premature and unwise as well as deleterious in general to the Nation's energy independence, environmental progress, economic competitiveness, job creation and national security." The letter identifies eleven areas of concern that may emanate from any defunding action including leaving the Nation with no "Plan B"; potentially stranding a minimum of 140,000 metric tons of spent commercial fuel and defense waste at 121 sites in 39 states for the better part of a century; disproportionate impacts on defense waste states; re-opening of site investigations in up to 28 states; abandoning $10 billion in taxpayer investment and exacerbating the current breach-of-contract with respect to the Government's longstanding failure to collect spent nuclear fuel; and creating an unnecessary hurdle and uncertainty for new nuclear generation
We will keep you apprised of developments and any actions to this end.
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By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: November 4, 2009: 4:44 PM
ETBAY CITY, Texas (CNNMoney.com) -- At a Texas power plant, two men in head-to-toe yellow jumpsuits are perched above a pool filled with still, crystal-clear water -- and nearly 20 years worth of nuclear waste.The 40-feet deep pool, about the size of an Olympic-sized swimming pool, is the current home to thousands of uranium-filled fuel rods -- the radioactive byproducts of a nuclear reactor. The men are using a robotic arm to position the rods sitting at the bottom of the pool.Pools such as this one are a temporary solution to a very long term problem: the hotly contested debate over what to do with the country's nuclear waste. Storing nuclear waste on site in pools, or in what's called "dry casks" outside the plant, seems an acceptable solution for the next several decades at existing plants. But nuclear waste remains radioactive for tens of thousands of years, far longer than the manmade pools are likely to survive.With global warming concerns and rising power demand, the idea of using more nuclear power is gaining traction. The Texas plant is among dozens nationwide that have applied to build more reactors. But some say a more permanent solution should be found before more new plants are built."The industry wants to build now and worry about the waste later," said Edwin Lyman, a senior staff scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. But to build "dozens or hundreds of new plants when we don't have any Nuclear waste: Coming to a town near you? - plausible means forward on waste disposable is irresponsible."Recycling the waste, as the French do, is often held up by lay people and politicians in the United States as a solution to this country's waste problem.When waste is recycled, the uranium and plutonium can be separated out from used nuclear fuel and fed back into a reactor. Critics hate it because the process of separating out the plutonium enriches the element to something closer to what's needed to build a nuclear bomb. Supporters like it because it reduces the need to go out and mine new uranium for fuel. But recycling isn't an ironclad solution for waste. It may reduce the amount of high level waste left over -- the French say it reduces it by a factor of eight, but others like Lyman argue it's more like a factor of two. Either way, there is still some waste leftover."There's no process that doesn't have waste at the end," said Steven Kraft, senior director of used fuel management at the industry's own Nuclear Energy Institute. Or as Jonathan Burton, an expert in nuclear waste at the consultancy Accenture, put it, "There's only one solution that's OK, and that's geologic disposal."A mountain of nuclear waste Geologic disposal, or burying the stuff deep in the earth, had been the government's plan for decades. Although other methods of disposal were studied -- sending it into outer space, burying it in the polar ice sheets -- storing it in the earth was thought to be the best solution, according to the government's research.By the early 1980s the government had decided to build a long term storage site for nuclear waste, and began collecting billions of dollars from electric utilities toward that end. In 1987 it started looking solely at Yucca Mountain, a site on federal land some 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas that was thought to have solid rock formations, essential for containing the waste for long periods of time. In 2002 the government formally designated the site as its repository. Construction has begun, although now it's mostly just series of tunnels into the earth.But Nevada residents never liked the plan, and were vocal about their opposition. When Harry Reid (D-Nev.) became Senate majority leader in 2006, the site's future came into question. Some critics also pointed to the geology at Yucca Mountain, saying the rocks were more porous than previously thought and noting the volcanic activity in the area.Although the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is still reviewing the permit to store waste at the site and those in the industry hope it can still be built, the Obama administration now says Yucca Mountain is no longer an option. More than 25 years in the making, and the project seems dead.Accenture's Burton believes an underground storage facility is still a possibility: "From an engineering perspective, I have every reason to believe one is," he said. Burton said it's prudent to build more plants as long as we're confident another repository can be built.Energy Department said Secretary Steven Chu will be appointing a blue ribbon panel shortly to figure out what to do with nuclear waste. That could mean reverting to the previous list of repository candidates, which named at least 10 other sites in Nuclear waste: states including Maine, Washington, New Mexico and North Carolina. It might also mean the space or polar ice cap idea is back on the table, but the spokesperson declined to comment.Whatever the case, it shouldn't take another 25 years to reach a solution.
First Published: November 4, 2009: 11:48 AM ET
Find this article at:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/04/news/economy/nuclear_waste/index.htm
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by William La Jeunesse
- FOXNews.com
- November 04, 2009
Tracking Your Taxes: The High Price of Nuclear Waste
SAN ONOFRE, CALIF.
While closing Yucca Mountain made for good campaign politics in Nevada, it leaves the U.S. with nowhere to store a growing stockpile of radioactive waste. Roughly 70,000 tons of waste sits in temporary pools and dry storage canisters in 100 reactor sites around the U.S. -- each one requiring an army of guards and millions in electronic surveillance.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After 30 years, five presidents and $13 billion dollars, the Obama administration is pulling the plug on Yucca Mountain, the federal government's proposed storage facility for America's nuclear waste.For a candidate who said he wanted to get politics out of science, critics find the president's decision hypocritical and shortsighted, at a time when nuclear energy is making a comeback."They have no solution to the problem. They've taken tens of billions of dollars from rate-payers and now they are talking about scraping the whole thing," said Leslie Paige of Citizens Against Government Waste.For 2010, the administration dramatically reduced Yucca Mountain's budget, just enough, a spokesperson said, to answer questions from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.Energy Secretary Stephen Chu told Congress earlier this year that Yucca Mountain is "not an option," and a spokesperson for the Nevada Facility told Fox News that the site is closed. The number of employees is down from a high of 4,000 to 50, according to a lawyer familiar with the repository.The decision was not un-expected. President Obama campaigned hard in Nevada and promised voters there in January 2008 "I am against yucca. I have repeatedly said I am against Yucca."But what made for good campaign politics in Nevada leaves the U.S. with nowhere to store a growing stockpile of radioactive waste. Roughly 70,000 tons of waste sits in temporary pools and dry storage canisters in 100 reactor sites around the U.S. -- each one requiring an army of guards and millions in electronic surveillance.The federal government agreed in 1982 to build a permanent storage site for radioactive waste and signed contracts to begin accepting it by 1998. Failure to meet that obligation has already cost the government $565 million in settlements and the Department of Energy estimates it will cost another $11 billion over the next decade in court costs and judgments."For every summary judgment, for every litigation, that they lose, for every settlement they have to pay, that is money coming out of the taxpayers pocket," Paige told Fox News.Many in Congress are also angry with Obama's decision to close Yucca Mountain. "Many a utility facility across the country is going to have to close down if we don't get a handle on it because waste is piling up in those communities with reactors," said Rep. Jerry Lewis, (R-Calif). Lawmakers like Lewis and Sen. John McCain say with no long term repository for America's nuclear waste, the re-licensing of existing plants and construction of new ones is in jeopardy, just as the nation reconsiders nuclear energy as a clean and dependable source of electricity.
In the meantime, the nation's utilities have asked the federal government to suspend the nuclear waste disposal tax -- now running about $750 million a year -- and may want a refund for the money already spent on the now failed yucca facility. So far, officials representing the department of energy have said no.
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Nuclear power isn't the answer, expert says
Nov 4 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Richard Mial La Crosse Tribune, Wis.
Former federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Peter Bradford does not believe nuclear power will be a major answer to America's energy issues.
That's because of its high cost, its potential for nuclear weapons proliferation through reprocessing, and the tendency to shift costs from power plant investors to consumers and taxpayers.
Speaking Tuesday night at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Bradford went through a series of what he described as the "myths" of nuclear power.
One is that we are in the midst of a nuclear renaissance, with many power plants being proposed or submitted for licensing in the past decade.
Bush administration officials in 2002 did encourage a rush of nuclear power plant applications by the end of 2008 that drew proposals for more than 30 reactors. But it became apparent not all those applicants were ready to build; about half eventually were either withdrawn or delayed.
Other factors cited include the need to reduce the country's carbon output to reduce global warming and the fact that France gets 80 percent of its electrical output from nuclear plants, "solving" the nuclear waste issue through reprocessing.
But Bradford said the discovery of new natural gas reserves, which produce half the carbon of coal, make nuclear power less necessary.
And France's reprocessing does not reduce the radioactivity, adds greatly to the cost and carries the risk of weapons proliferation, he said.
Bradford's talk was sponsored by the Wisconsin chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Jan. 31, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Yucca workers urged to fight for their jobs
E-mail campaign touted in fliers
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Workers at the Department of Energy's Yucca Mountain Project in Las Vegas are being urged to launch an e-mail campaign aimed at saving their jobs in light of dwindling budgets threatened by Sen. Harry Reid and the Obama administration.
Fliers were placed on the windshields of cars and trucks at the project's offices in Summerlin this week.
The fliers, which were not signed, called on workers to enlist their friends and family to write to President Barack Obama and top Nevada leaders, and stressed that de-funding the nuclear waste project "will have a significant adverse impact on the community as a whole."There is never a good time to be out of a job, but as you know now is certainly a very bad time," they said. "This town cannot afford to lose 1,200 or so high paying jobs, the Summerlin area cannot absorb hundreds of additional houses on the market and the vacancy of tens of thousands of square feet of office space."The organizers of the e-mail campaign could not be discerned on Friday.Spokesmen for the Department of Energy and Bechtel SAIC, the project's managing contractor, said those entities were not involved in the effort.Several workers said Friday the appeal was indicative of low morale and high anxiety among employees who have been caught in the undertow of the controversial project.The Yucca workforce has been halved in the past three years, from about 2,750 to 1,400, according to DOE. About 1,120 work in Nevada, with most of the remainder in Washington.But now the project is under pressure as never before, as the president has declared he is against it and an energized Reid has vowed to kill it outright. On Wednesday Reid, the Senate majority leader, disclosed that new legislation Congress is expected to pass in the coming weeks will reduce the Yucca budget to a record low of $288.4 million.Lynne Norman, an administrative assistant on the Yucca project who lives in Summerlin, said Friday project workers are being made to feel like "second-class citizens," and she feels betrayed by her home-state senator.Nevada officials who have strategized against the Yucca project said they are sympathetic but the cause of killing the repository is bigger than the workers, who they said should not be surprised the end finally might be near. Reid on Jan. 14 declared, "Yucca Mountain is not a jobs program."Adding to the distress on the program is an upcoming management changeover, workers said, as Bechtel SAIC is ending an eight-year tenure as chief operations contractor.Bechtel SAIC sent federally required layoff warnings to more than 600 workers Monday, reminding them they will no longer be employed as of March 31, when the company's contract expires."Killing the dump is the right policy for Nevada and for America," Reid and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said in a joint statement Friday.They said the federal Workforce Investment Act can provide retraining and other help for dislocated workers.
Keith Rogers of the Review-Journal contributed to this report. Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia. com or 202-783-1760.
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11/12/08
NRC Comments re WCS Land Ownership Exemption Request
By letter dated August 22, 2008, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) notified the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) of its intention to grant an exemption from the government land ownership requirements in 30 TAC 336.734(a) for Waste Control Specialist’s (WCS) proposed low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Andrews County, Texas. NRC’s Office of Federal & State Materials & Environmental Management Programs recently responded via letter dated October 28, 2008. In the letter, NRC discusses compatibility requirements and other factors for consideration.
Background 10 CFR Part 61 requires state or federal government ownership of land for a low-level radioactive waste site before the issuance of a license. Although 30 TAC 336.734 contains a similar provision, 30 TAC 336.909 allows for the government to assume ownership at the time of decommissioning. By letter dated January 22, 2004, NRC provided TCEQ with the results of its compatibility review of revisions to the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Rules in Title 30 of the Texas Administrative Code. The provision for government land ownership of the federal facility portion of the proposed low-level radioactive waste disposal facility was identified as the one remaining outstanding issue. NRC determined that compatibility of TCEQ regulations would not be an issue, however, until the filing of an exemption request from 30 TAC 336.734.
Similar Exemption In 1993, the State of Utah granted an exemption from the government land ownership requirements to EnergySolutions’ predecessor—Envirocare of Utah. In that case, the license had no requirement for government ownership of the site at any time. Nonetheless, NRC determined that the exemption provided adequate controls so that the objectives of the land ownership requirement could be achieved without actual government ownership.
NRC’s Analysis NRC’s October 2008 letter states that “Texas is free to grant an exemption to its own regulations, but any exemption must meet the criteria” in 30 TAC 336.5—which NRC has determined are compatible with exemption provisions contained in the agency’s own regulations. 30 TAC 336.5 states that the exemption must not be “… prohibited by law,” and is to be “… at least as protective of the environment and the public health as the method prescribed by Commission [TCEQ] rules that would otherwise apply.” NRC’s government land ownership requirement is “primarily aimed at the long-term control of the site, with the premise that the government is likely to outlast private entities.” It is intended to ensure “that a responsible entity will be available to perform custodial care and to restrict access to the site during the post closure institutional control phase.” In the case at hand, WCS has proposed that the federal government would take ownership of the land for the federal facility at the time of decommissioning, instead of at the time of license issuance. The draft license issued by TCEQ, however, prohibits the disposal of federal facility waste at the WCS site until the U.S. Department of Energy provides an acceptable written agreement stating that the federal government will assume all right, title and interest in land and buildings for the disposal of federal facility waste in accordance with 30 TAC 336.909(2) and at the time of decommissioning. Thus, although the government will not own the land during the operations, closure and post closure phases, it would take ownership at the time that the post closure phase ends and the 100 year institutional control period begins. WCS’ application presents a case for demonstrating the control of access to the site during these pre-institutional control phases through the presence of WCS personnel on the site, periodic inspections by TCEQ, and restrictive covenants for the property. NRC’s letter states that “[t]heoretically, private ownership of the facility up to the beginning of the institutional control period would appear to be able to meet the essential objectives of the government land ownership provisions of Part 61.” The letter goes on to state, however, that adequate assurance that the federal government will take ownership at a later time must be demonstrated.
Conclusions and Next Steps NRC’s October 2008 letter states that the agency has reconfirmed that the Texas regulations, as adopted, meet NRC’s compatibility and health and safety requirements. Moreover, NRC believes “that the general approach proposed by WCS for private ownership during the phases before the institutional control period can be consistent with the objectives of the government ownership requirements given appropriate circumstances.” Accordingly, NRC has determined that TCEQ is not precluded from considering an appropriate exemption. NRC intends to review the implementation details of this exemption approval to ensure that it is adequate to protect public health and safety when the agency performs its next Integrated Materials Performance Evaluation Program (IMPEP) review of the Texas program. The IMPEP uses common criteria in the assessment and places primary emphasis on performance. The specific performance indicator on the low-level radioactive waste disposal program consists of five sub-elements, including the Technical Quality of Licensing Actions. NRC notes that the “granting of an exemption to the institutional requirements as proposed should be based on addressing the health and safety issues and would be factored into a finding of adequacy for the program and not compatibility as indicated in the [agency’s] January 22, 2004, letter.” NRC is currently scheduled to perform its next IMPEP review of the Texas program in 2010.
Additional Comment re Depleted Uranium Condition 47 in the draft license issued to WCS by TCEQ states as follows: The Licensee shall not receive or dispose of any waste with physical, chemical, and radiological characteristics not evaluated in the application. The Licensee shall not receive or dispose uranium hexafluoride (UF6) conversion waste, depleted uranium or similar waste. In order to accept any additional waste streams, information on complete waste profiles, radionuclide information, total radioactivity, radionuclide concentrations, chemical constituents, and analysis of any impacts to members of the public and the environment must be submitted as an application for amendment to this license. NRC’s October 2008 letter states that this condition “is consistent with recent Commission direction to the NRC staff to consider whether the quantities of DU in the waste stream from uranium enrichment facilities warrant additional measures to ensure protection of public health and safety.” (See LLW Forum News Flash titled, “NRC Staff Issues Recommendations Regarding Depleted Uranium,” November 6, 2008.) NRC states that it will notify TCEQ when the staff paper is finalized and available for public review. After staff receives Commission direction, they can discuss the relevance, if any, of the Commission decision on this issue to TCEQ’s path forward.
For additional information, please contact Jim Kennedy of NRC at (301) 415-6668 or Susan Jablonski of TCEQ at (512) 239-6466.
9/30/08
EPA Issues Final Yucca Mountain Radiation Standards
Contact: Cathy Milbourn, (202) 564-4355 / milbourn.cathy@epa.gov
EPA has established radiation standards for the proposed spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste disposal facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
EPA is required to set standards consistent with the findings and recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and satisfy a July 2004 court decision to extend the standards' duration. The Yucca Mountain standards are in line with approaches used in the international radioactive waste management community. The final standards will:
· Retain the dose limit of 15 millirem per year for the first 10,000 years after disposal;
· Establish a dose limit of 100 millirem annual exposure per year between 10,000 years and 1 million years;
· Require the Department of Energy (DOE) to consider the effects of climate change, earthquakes, volcanoes, and corrosion of the waste packages to safely contain the waste during the 1 million-year period; and
· Be consistent with the recommendations of the NAS by establishing a radiological protection standard for this facility at the time of peak dose up to 1 million years after disposal.
Human exposure to radiation varies from natural sources, such as radon and ultraviolet radiation from the sun, and other sources, such as medical X-rays. The average annual radiation exposure from both naturally occurring and manmade sources for a person living in the United States has been estimated to be 360 millirem per year.
EPA, DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission perform different functions related to Yucca Mountain . To learn more about this action and the roles of the three federal agencies, visit: http://www.epa.gov/radiation/yucca
9/24/08
EnergySolutions v. Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management
Rocky Mountain Compact Granted Intervenor Status in Suit Challenging Northwest Compact’s Authority
On September 18, 2008, the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, Central Division, granted an Unopposed Motion to Join the Rocky Mountain Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by EnergySolutions against the Northwest Interstate Compact on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management and against Michael Garner solely in his official capacity as Executive Director of the Northwest Compact. The State of Utah’s unopposed motion to intervene as a defendant in the action was previously granted by the court on August 28, 2008. The lawsuit—which was initiated on May 5 of this year—seeks, among other things, a declaratory judgment “to clarify the authority of the Northwest Compact to govern EnergySolutions’ privately owned, commercial, low-level radioactive disposal site in Clive, Utah.” (See LLW Notes, May/June 2008, pp. 25-28.)
Rocky Mountain Compact’s Motion to Intervene as a Defendant
Arguments In its motion to intervene as a party defendant, the Rocky Mountain Compact asserts that it has a right to intervene because • as a Congressionally-approved compact, it has the right to intervene in any administrative or judicial proceeding involving low-level radioactive waste; and, • it has an interest in the subject matter of the proceeding and is so situated that the case’s disposition may as a practical matter impair or impede its ability to protect that interest. The compact also argues that intervention should be allowed because “there are common questions of law and fact regarding the compact system which impact the Rocky Mountain Compact” and because the case “involves claims based upon state and federal regulations, orders, requirements, and/or agreements which relate to the management of low-level radioactive waste and the compact system.” Response While EnergySolutions stated that it does not agree with many of the assertions and legal conclusions set forth in the defendants’ motion and accompanying memorandum and does not agree that the Rocky Mountain Compact is a proper party to the action, the company acknowledged that the court has discretion to permit intervention in certain circumstances. Accordingly, EnergySolutions did not object to entry of an order making the state a party to the action, subject to conditions that were agreed upon and stipulated by the parties. Order Pursuant to the terms of the court’s order granting the Rocky Mountain Compact party status as a defendant in the case, the compact has 15 days to file an answer to EnergySolutions’ first amended complaint and must file their memoranda in opposition to the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on Count I no later than October 21, 2008. The compact is required to comply with previously established discovery and case management schedules and to coordinate with the defendants to avoid duplication of discovery. The compact may not file separate claims for relief unless EnergySolutions seeks leave to file a second amended complaint.
Rocky Mountain Compact’s Answer to the First Amended Complaint
On August 29, the Rocky Mountain Compact submitted its answer in response to EnergySolution’s first amended complaint. Responses to Arguments In its answer, the Rocky Mountain Compact affirmatively alleges that the facility is subject to the Northwest Compact’s authority and constitutes a “regional disposal facility” under the terms of the Northwest Compact. In addition, the compact denies EnergySolution’s allegation that the Clive facility has never been operated under a compact. The Rocky Mountain Compact also denies that the Northwest Compact’s actions regarding the proposed importation of foreign waste to the Clive facility violate federal statutes and/or the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Affirmative Defenses As affirmative defenses, the Rocky Mountain Compact charges that • the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted and raises non-justiciable political questions; • the court lacks personal jurisdiction over the defendants; • venue is not proper; • one or more of the listed claims are barred because they are not ripe for adjudication; • the plaintiff failed to exhaust its administrative remedies, waived one or more of the listed claims, and lacks standing to bring one of more of the listed claims; and, • the requested relief may be barred by the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Background
The action arises out of a proposal from EnergySolutions to import up to 20,000 tons of potentially radioactively contaminated material from Italy and to export for return to generators in Italy any of the imported waste that can not be recycled or does not meet the Clive facility’s waste acceptance criteria for disposal. (See LLW Notes, November/December 2007, pp. 6-9.) Under the proposal, the contaminated material would be processed at EnergySolutions’ Bear Creek facility for recycling and beneficial reuse with any resultant waste being disposed at the Clive facility. EnergySolutions estimates that approximately 1,600 tons of the imported material would be disposed as Class A LLRW at the Clive facility. The Northwest Compact heard from both proponents and critics of EnergySolutions’ proposal during a meeting on May 8, 2008. Following a closed-door session, they voted unanimously that the compact’s Third Amended Resolution and Order—which authorizes access for LLRW to the Clive facility subject to the provisions of the company’s license from the State of Utah—does not address foreign LLRW and that an arrangement would need to be adopted prior to such waste being provided access to the region for disposal at the Clive Facility. (See LLW Notes, May/June 2008, pp. 1, 7-9.) Three days prior to the meeting, on May 5, 2008, EnergySolutions filed a lawsuit challenging the Northwest Compact’s authority over the Clive facility. (See LLW Notes, May/June 2008, pp. 25-28.) Among other things, EnergySolutions argues that (1) the Clive facility is not a “regional disposal facility” as defined by the LLRWPA and the Northwest Compact therefore lacks authority to restrict the flow of LLRW to the facility; (2) NRC’s authority and responsibility for the regulation of the export and import of byproducts and nuclear materials preempt any attempt by the Northwest Compact to restrict or prevent the importation of foreign waste to the Clive facility; and, (3) any effort by the Northwest Compact to restrict or prohibit the Clive facility from receiving foreign LLRW would amount to unauthorized discrimination against foreign commerce and would be prohibited by the dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Rocky Mountain Compact has a contract with the Northwest Compact and the State of Washington for the disposal of commercial Class A, B and C low-level radioactive waste at the compact’s regional disposal facility in Richland, Washington. In 2005, the State of Washington and US Ecology agreed to incorporate a clause in the new sublease for the Richland disposal facility that allows the state to terminate the sublease if the Northwest Compact loses exclusionary authority on out-of-region low-level radioactive waste provided by federal law.
For additional information, please contact Leonard Slosky, Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Compact, at (303) 825-1912; Tye Rogers, Vice President of Compliance and Permitting at EnergySolutions, at (801) 649-2000; or, Michael Garner, Executive Director of the Northwest Compact, at (360) 407-7102.
Sep. 19, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
CORRECTION -- 09/20/08 -- In a Friday Review-Journal story about the Yucca Mountain Project, a comment about momentum building among some members of Congress toward reprocessing nuclear waste was misattributed. The comment should have been attributed to Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.
NUCLEAR PROJECTS AGENCY: Yucca fight reaffirmed
Lawmakers: Loux rift won't end opposition
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- No matter what happens with the embattled director of Nevada's Nuclear Projects Agency, the state will not give up the fight against Yucca Mountain, Nevada's senators vowed Thursday.
Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign insisted the Energy Department's plans for a nuclear waste repository are still more dead than alive, even as the department made progress this summer moving it toward construction.
In a conference call with reporters, the senators said they wanted to nip in the bud any thoughts that the state should abandon its long-held opposition and seek benefits instead from the federal government to host the site."There will be no deal cut," Reid said.Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., echoed Reid and Ensign in a separate interview.Berkley said the nuclear industry and supporters of Yucca Mountain "smell blood" in the turmoil surrounding the Agency for Nuclear Projects, whose executive director, Bob Loux, is under fire for giving himself and his staff unauthorized raises.Although Berkley said she disapproved of Loux's actions and expected him to leave the job, "let's not throw out the baby with the bath water" by altering strategy in the anti-Yucca campaign.Members of the state's congressional delegation were largely silent in the days after the disclosure by Loux that he gave himself and other staffers raises up to 16 percent.Gov. Jim Gibbons demanded that Loux resign, but the director's fate rests with a seven-member Commission on Nuclear Projects that oversees his office.It is not clear when the case will be resolved. A commission meeting that was set for Tuesday has been canceled because of a failure to post a timely public notice. Commission chairman Richard Bryan said a new hearing might be Sept. 29 in Las Vegas.The pay scandal has sparked discussion in op-ed pages whether the state should take stock of its battle against Yucca Mountain.While polls show a majority of Nevadans oppose Yucca Mountain, there are citizens who believe the massive government project could provide an economic shot in the arm.Some others argue the repository is inevitable and the state should protect its interests rather than battle to the end.Reid insisted that only a "tiny segment" favors such a plan, and Ensign added that "there are no benefits to get."Chuck Muth, a Carson City conservative activist who has written that Nevada should reconsider its Yucca Mountain stance, said residents "have not gotten both sides of the story where they can make an intelligent decision" on the project."After 20 years, Nevadans have to look at the chance that it may come here," Muth said. "Is Yucca Mountain the best place? Maybe, maybe not. But we are not going to know if we just say no, no, no in knee-jerk fashion and not get the facts."Muth has acknowledged he has received backing from the pro-Yucca Nuclear Energy Institute, including $5,000 to buy gifts for attendees at a Conservative Leadership Conference in Las Vegas this week.State scientists have argued that deadly nuclear particles will escape Yucca Mountain, contaminate the environment, create a safety hazard and ruin the tourist-driven economy of Las Vegas, 100 miles southeast of the Mountain. Those arguments will be weighed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which last week opened a three- to four-year review period for a Yucca construction license.Reid said some of Yucca's "cheerleaders" are leaving Congress, such as Sens. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and momentum is building toward reprocessing the waste instead of disposing it immediately.
Review-Journal writers Keith Rogers and Sean Whaley contributed to this report. Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.
Scientists question comparing nuclear waste storage costs
9/12/08
Senate Yucca Mountain foes seek figures
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Government analysts are undertaking a study to compare the costs of building a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain against the costs of leaving the waste at power plants, where it is now stored.
But scientists who spoke up Thursday at a briefing said the idea of such a study didn't make sense to them. There are so many uncertainties, such a comparison might be near-impossible, they said.
One expert said issues of cost historically have been low priorities when it comes to disposing of deadly waste compared to other impacts on society.
Nonetheless, the Government Accountability Office is tackling the study at the request of senators Harry Reid, D-Nev., John Ensign, R-Nev., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
As part of a strategy to derail the ongoing government effort to bury nuclear waste at the Yucca site in Nevada, the senators introduced a bill that would leave radioactive spent fuel at reactor sites, where they now are stored in pools, and increasingly in concrete and steel dry cask silos.
One thing that is not known is how those economics stack up against Yucca Mountain, which the Department of Energy estimated earlier this summer could cost $96.2 billion to build and operate.
GAO officials said they are consulting experts as they put together a study plan. Thursday they turned to the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board, an arm of the National Academy of Science, for advice on how they might proceed.
Analyst Ryan Gotschall said the GAO also plans to compare the costs of establishing interim storage sites, where nuclear waste could be kept for a hundred years before being moved to a final destination.
Radiation board members were skeptical a study could be done, or even was necessary.
Thomas Isaacs, director of policy and planning at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said the thought troubled him.
Isaacs, a former Department of Energy strategic planning director, said policymakers placed economics last, behind health and safety and environmental protection, when they set a direction years ago for nuclear waste disposal.
They decided cost "should not be the driver for how the country decided to deal with this very vexing public policy issue," Isaacs said.
"Doing nothing ... has always been the cheapest thing to do," Isaacs said. "You don't have to do much of a study. I can tell you what the answer is. The answer is 'nothing.' "
Board Chairman Richard Meserve, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said the emphasis on cost "is completely contrary to how we deal with all our issues dealing with waste."
"It may be exactly what you were asked to do, but I would suggest it does not make much sense," Meserve told the GAO officials.
Several board members recognized a political purpose for the study.
"You are trying to make the best of a set of questions that you did not get a chance to design," Kevin Crowley, the board's executive director, told the analysts.
"It reminds me of the discussion that has been going on the last couple of days involving cosmetics and certain farm animals," Crowley said in a reference to debate in the presidential campaign over the phrase "lipstick on a pig."
Jon Summers, a spokesman for Reid, said the report is not due until May.
"We hope the GAO will shed some unbiased light on the costs associated with nuclear waste storage -- both on-site and in the proposed dump," Summers said. "American taxpayers deserve to know the costs associated with nuclear energy, particularly as some people are pushing it as a possible solution to the nation's energy challenges."
Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@ reviewjournal.com or 202-783-1760.
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