Yucca Mountain showdown

The United States Senate is preparing to hold a landmark vote on whether Yucca Mountain, Nevada will become the nation's first high-level radioactive waste dump. Timing of the vote is not certain, but as this Nuclear Monitor goes to press, it appears likely shortly after the Senate's Fourth of July holiday recess.

(570.5415) NIRS - If the Senate does not vote on the issue by 25 July, Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn's (R) veto of the project will be upheld, and the project will be cancelled permanently.

Both opponents and supporters of Yucca Mountain have been engaged in intensive campaigns to galvanize their base of support and win over "swing" voters. And although it remains an uphill battle for Yucca opponents, momentum appears to be moving slightly their way at this writing, as a number of recent events have raised new questions about the viability of the Yucca project.

* On 14 June, a 4.3 magnitude earthquake shook Yucca Mountain (and Yucca supporters) and served as a reminder that the site is in one of the mostly seismically-active areas of the United States. That same day, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Richard Meserve said that high-level waste can be stored adequately on-site for decades if Yucca Mountain is not approved by Congress-undercutting arguments by Yucca supporters that the dump is necessary to avoid imminent problems.

In a rare moment of candor, Meserve admitted that the Yucca issue is not necessarily about safe radioactive waste storage, but about utility economics and politics. "From the public perception and political view, Yucca Mountain has become a litmus test for nuclear power," he said. "And it has been an issue that millions of dollars have been spent to develop the site, and the country's willingness to spend billions of dollars more to develop another site is questionable." Meserve added that expansion of onsite storage would not be welcomed by nuclear utilities-which would have to pay for that expansion. At Yucca Mountain, the Nuclear Waste Fund would pay for all waste transportation and storage, with taxpayers making up the substantial difference.

* Also in mid-June, the Environmental Working Group unveiled a highly-publicized new website (www.mapscience.org) that allows users to find out how close they live to a likely radioactive waste transport route, as well as how many schools, hospitals and other institutions lie near the routes. The site also addresses a continuing lie about Yucca Mountain-that it would make a substantial difference to the nation's radioactive waste storage problem. Indeed, the website shows clearly that huge amounts of high-level waste would remain at reactor sites across the country even when Yucca has stopped accepting new waste.

* Meanwhile, numerous musical acts, including Bonnie Raitt, Midnight Oil, The B-52s, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the Indigo Girls have been touring the country raising awareness about the Yucca issue and encouraging their audiences to oppose the Yucca project. Actor Mike Farrell came to Washington in June, bringing with him a letter signed by some 70 Hollywood celebrities, opposing the project.

* On 17 June, the U.S. Conference of Mayors approved a resolution raising serious concerns about the Department of Energy's planning for transportation of high-level waste.

* A six-cask radioactive roads and rails tour, sponsored by NIRS, converged on Washington for a rally on 18 June that coincided with a national call-in to Senators day. The mock waste casks toured the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and Northwest, and most are continuing touring through June. Citizens Awareness Network, Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Citizen Alert and Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League activists have been driving the casks across the country, meeting with activists, the public and the media, and drawing new attention to the issue of unnecessary and dangerous radioactive waste transportation. The 18 June rally brought together leaders of 10 national environmental groups along with both Nevada senators.

* The next day, 19 June, Senate Yucca supporters-who still confidently predict victory-tried unsuccessfully to rush a floor vote on the issue, prompting a strong rebuke from Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle.

Said Daschle, "Senate Republicans have demonstrated how misguided their priorities are by making another attempt to ram through a bill catering to power companies - and to do so while the Senate is considering the Department of Defense authorization bill.

"Passing the defense bill and providing for the well-being of our armed services in the middle of a war is a greater priority than protecting the special interests of the nuclear industry. Americans want Congress to address real domestic problems such as the need for affordable prescription drugs and quality schools, not waste time and money appeasing the nuclear power industry.

"This bill will not solve anything. It will only create 100,000 new problems in nearly every state in the form of radioactive shipments on highways and railways, creating a multitude of terrorist targets. And it will create a multi-billion-dollar boondoggle on an earthquake fault in Nevada."

The key vote on Yucca Mountain is likely to come not on the up-or-down vote on the project itself, but on a procedural issue: whether any Senator can, or should, bring up this resolution for a floor vote over the opposition of the Senate Majority Leader, who normally is the only Senator who can bring a measure for a vote. Special provisions were inserted into the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to allow such a technique, but Senate precedent argues strongly against allowing an individual Senator to essentially overrule the Majority Leader. Daschle has made clear that he has no intention of bringing the issue to the floor. Thus, the nuclear industry must rely on its hardcore supporters to force the issue, and perhaps create a new Senate precedent that could backfire upon them at a later date.

Source and contact: Michael Mariotte at NIRS.