Despite protests from local officials, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it has submitted a license application to construct the nation’s first repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
Nevada officials vowed to launch numerous challenges to the proposed design of the facility, claiming the DOE has not proven it will adequately protect public health and the environment.
Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons said, "As long as I am governor, the state will continue to do everything it can to stop Yucca Mountain from becoming reality."
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is also a vocal opponent of the facility, which he says Nevada residents don’t want in their state. Reid has led Congressional funding cuts for the project in recent years, in an effort to undermine its development.
However, the DOE seems determined to push on with the project, delivering the 8,600-page application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) yesterday by truck. The Yucca Mountain project was approved by President Bush and Congress in 2002.
"Submittal of the Yucca Mountain license application will further encourage the expansion of nuclear power in the United States, which is absolutely critical to our energy security, environmental goals, and national security," Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman said. "This license application is the culmination of more than two decades of expert scientific research and engineering, and represents a major milestone for the Department.
The NRC has three years to review the application and determine whether the design of the facility will protect protect public health, safety and the environment for up to a million years–the length of time some of the radioactive material will remain dangerous.
A related AP story, demonstrates the threat posed by radioactive waste associated with nuclear power.
Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) and Rockwell International Corp have been ordered by a federal judge to pay $925 million dollars for mishandling radioactive waste at the closed Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility near Denver, Colorado. The companies are required to pay compensatory damages to residents living near the inactive site, who claimed that contamination endangered their health and devalued their property.
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