[ RadSafe ] The Nuclear Waste Site in Utah

[Stabin, Michael]

Again, the NY Times, cautiously pro-"something nuclear".....


The Nuclear Waste Site in Utah 
NY Times: Published: September 16, 2005

While few people outside Utah were paying close attention last week, the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission authorized the licensing of a private
storage plant for spent nuclear fuel rods on an Indian reservation some
50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Utah's outraged political leaders
pledged to use every legal and political trick available to block the
project even though, as representatives of a very conservative state,
they supposedly abhor bureaucratic or judicial interference with private
corporate decisions. Their contention - that the storage site, backed by
a consortium of eight utilities, would pose a safety hazard - seems
overblown. If the project should clear all of the remaining regulatory,
legal and commercial hurdles, it could provide a useful interim storage
site while the nation seeks a more permanent burial site deep
underground.

The government's long-term goal is to bury the waste in stable geologic
formations that will be resistant to leaks for eons to come.
Unfortunately, progress has been slow. The only site approved for
evaluation - at Yucca Mountain in Nevada - has been hobbled by technical
problems and legal challenges. Meanwhile, spent fuel rods have been
piling up in cooling pools and in dry-storage casks at nuclear reactor
sites around the country. 

So far as is known, the used fuel rods can be left there safely for
decades. But it becomes awkward and costly to guard and maintain the
storage casks after the reactors themselves have been retired from
service. Several reactors have already been shut down, and more are apt
to follow. In some cases, the spent fuel rods sit on land that might
have more valuable uses. Unless these used fuel rods can be sent to
Yucca, a destination that has not yet been approved to receive them, it
seems desirable to have a backup site.

The question of whether Utah is the best place for such a site has never
been addressed. Private Fuel Storage, a company set up by the utilities,
simply negotiated a deal with a small, poor Indian tribe, the Skull
Valley Goshutes, for an undisclosed but presumably substantial amount of
money. The site seems safe enough. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board
and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission - both charged with protecting the
public from nuclear hazards - approved the project after an exhaustive
eight-year process. 

There are still hurdles to clear before the site can be developed. The
state plans to appeal the decision in federal courts. It will also try
to persuade the Bureau of Indian Affairs to withhold approval of the
lease and will ask the Bureau of Land Management to deny a right of way
needed for a rail spur to haul spent fuel to the site. So there is
plenty of room for political interference should the Bush administration
wish to do Utah a favor.

Meanwhile, Private Fuel Storage will need to sign up enough customers to
make the project financially viable. Some utilities in the consortium
are reported to be in no great rush to ship fuel rods to the site only
to then ship them a second time, to Yucca.

We remain hopeful that Yucca can qualify as a permanent disposal site.
But if Yucca fails to pass muster with the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, the nation will need a centralized surface site to fill the
gap until a safe burial location can be found. The Indian reservation in
Utah can fill that purpose.



Mike

Michael G. Stabin, PhD, CHP
Assistant Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences 
Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences 
Vanderbilt University 
1161 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37232-2675 
Phone (615) 343-0068
Fax   (615) 322-3764
Pager (615) 835-5153
e-mail     michael.g.stabin at vanderbilt.edu 
internet   www.doseinfo-radar.com