Yucca Mountain – The Most Studied Place on Earth

Yucca Mt. has been studied since the early 1980’s as a potential repository site. In 1986, the DOE had five preferred sites, ranking Yucca number one overall, based on a number of factors including geohydrology, geochemistry, rock characteristics, tectonics, meteorology, costs and socioeconomic impacts. Between 1987 and 2002, the DOE spent another $3.8 billion on scientific and technical studies of Yucca Mountain. Independent scientists, working for Nye County Nevada, drilled additional exploratory holes into the geology and collaborated with DOE scientists on their findings. These efforts were further supplemented by numerous laboratory experiments and excavation of similar geologic features, both nearby and at natural analogue sites around the world. Through this work, the geology of Yucca Mountain and its ability to safely contain radioactive waste became very well understood.

During this time, more than 2,500 scientists representing not only DOE and its direct contractors, but also five National Laboratories, the US Geologic Survey, and dozens of US Universities, worked on the project. All this study and analysis was subjected to exhaustive critical peer review, most notably by the US Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) – a group of 11 distinguished scientists appointed to review the DOE’s work and report its findings to Congress on a biannual basis, as required by the NWPA.

In 2001, the DOE sought one additional and very important independent expert review of the analysis (known as Total System Performance Assessment or TSPA) upon which that recommendation would be based. This outside reviewer, a joint peer review panel composed of top international experts assembled by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency, reached its conclusion in November of 2001. The panel summarized that there was adequate basis for supporting the site recommendation at Yucca, and that it was likely the site would comply with the regulatory period of 10,000 years.

Radiation Exposure – Lower than what occurs in nature

The site is located far from any major population centers in the vast, dry, barren desert adjacent to the Nuclear Test Site, where over 900 live atomic weapons were exploded above and below ground. Because of these tests, the land surrounding the area, including Yucca Mountain, can’t be used for much else other than the storage of spent nuclear fuels. Since 1990, over 40 million cubic feet of low-level waste has been transported through Nevada to be stored at Area 5 of the Energy Department’s Nevada National Security Site.

Experts say that the average yearly background and detectible risk radiation levels will be 350 mrem once Yucca Mt. is filled with casks. In Denver, that level is 700 mrem, naturally.

The current spent fuel has a half life of 10,000 years. The “waste” from reprocessed spent fuel has a half life of 300 years. It will much easier to protect the area for the next few centuries, versus several millennium if we don’t reprocess the spent fuel.

Water infiltration — low and well understood

Most of the billions of dollars spent at Yucca have been focused on studying how small quantities of water move through the mountain, how that moisture might affect the engineered barriers that will protect the waste, and how water might transport radionuclides from the repository to and through the water table.

In deep geologic disposal, the one overriding concern is the potential for radioactive contaminants to reach the accessible environment. Every known process for degrading and transporting such contaminants involves water. Yucca Mountain is one of the driest locations in the United States, receiving an average annual rainfall of only seven inches. About 95% of the water falling on Yucca Mountain either evaporates or runs off, further limiting the amount available to seep into the repository. It also provides a minimum of 1200 vertical feet of dry solid rock above the water table. DOE has chosen to locate the repository in that dry rock mid-way between the surface and the water table.

To get to the depth of the repository, water would have to travel through unsaturated rocks, which have properties tending to divert it or store it in its pore space. In addition to the geologic features of the Yucca Mountain site, the waste packages and other engineered components have been designed to work with the geologic features of the mountain.

When all of the science of water flow through all of the different parts of the geologic system is brought together, it provides a compelling story of just why Yucca Mountain is a safe disposal site. Not only is water scarce, it’s going to have a long road to make any difference at all. The DOE’s conservative analysis, which includes fast pathways for water travel, shows that it will take at least 500 years for a single molecule of water to travel from initial contact with the surface, through the repository, to the water table.

Withstanding Natural Disasters

Potentially disruptive events such as very large earthquakes and volcanoes were considered and studied in great detail during the 25 years of studies at Yucca. Earthquakes larger than those that have ever occurred historically in the Yucca Mountain region were considered to see what their effects could be on the release of radionuclides. Scientists also looked at a potential volcano acting directly through the repository. Calculations show that, even considering such extreme events, the EPA Standards for protecting the health and safety of people living in the Amargosa Valley would have been met by the Yucca Mountain repository system.

Status of the Yucca Project

Yucca is not “dead.” Despite what our elected leaders say, the law of the land, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) still says that the US Department of Energy has a legal obligation to take and dispose of the used nuclear fuel and waste accumulated at commercial and government (military) nuclear facilities. Failure to do so will result in over $11 billion in law suits from energy companies and rate payers.

Despite the Chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission wanting to pull the license application for the repository, it is still under review. A NRC Technical Review Panel voted that it was illegal for the DOE to halt the Yucca licensing process. The attempt by the NRC to halt the licensing process has lead to several court cases against the DOE, costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

Our current national policy is to store spent fuel at power plants for 100-120 years. The industry believes that in that time frame a scientific solution will be found. However, the crisis in Japan may have policy makers re-thinking that option. Currently spent fuel is stored above ground at some 75 nuclear reactor sites, within 5 miles of 165 million people.

To change the plans for Yucca from a long-term repository to our concept of an energy park will take changing federal law.

Nevada’s Continued Opposition to Yucca

Nevada’s politicians have done all they can to halt this $100 Billion project. They killed its funding, costing 1,500 Nevadans their jobs and preventing the creation of thousands of construction jobs for planned roads and rail lines.

Nevada has NEVER negotiated for compensation or benefits, as allowed in the NWPA. The window of opportunity to begin such negotiations will close if the license to operate is approved by the NRC, or if the law suits are decided against the DOE and Nevada. If the license is approved without Nevada working out a “deal” in advance, the nuclear industry will get the gold mine – and Nevadans will get the shaft.

But morever, rather than being a “dump,” Yucca Mountain could become the site of a world-class national energy research center where nuclear energy technology could be studied and advanced, along with alternative sources of energy such as wind, solar and geothermal. All of these facilities would create thousands of good, high-paying jobs and additional tax revenue for the state.