[ RadSafe ] Now Washington State sues over Yucca Mountain

[Dan W McCarn]

Yes!  I was hoping that this would happen!

Dan ii

--
Dan W McCarn, Geologist
2867 A Fuego Sagrado
Santa Fe, NM 87505
+1-505-310-3922 (Mobile - New Mexico)
HotGreenChile at gmail.com (Private email)

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Perle, Sandy
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2010 21:30
To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Now Washington State sues over Yucca Mountain

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
14 April 2010

Now Washington State sues over Yucca Mountain

Washington State - home of the Hanford nuclear weapons development site -
has filed a lawsuit against the US Department of Energy (DoE) to prevent it
abandoning plans for the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository in
Nevada.

Attorney General Rob McKenna announced that Washington has filed suit in the
US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to prevent the DoE
from "irrevocably terminating the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste
repository by withdrawing 'with prejudice' its licence application for the
repository."

In its lawsuit, Washington claims that the DoE's decision to "irrevocably
terminate the Yucca Mountain project in favour of an unknown and yet-to-be
identified alternative" violates the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the National
Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act.

Washington is requesting that the Court of Appeals issues a permanent
injunction requiring DoE to continue to fulfil its obligations with respect
to the Yucca Mountain project and prohibiting the US Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) from hearing or granting the DoE's motion to withdraw its
licence application.

In February 2009, the Obama administration announced that funding for the
Yucca Mountain project had been reduced to all but zero and that a new plan
for the disposal of the country's used nuclear fuel and high-level waste
would be developed. The project came to an official halt on 3 March 2010
when the DoE filed a motion with the NRC to withdraw the application to
build and operate Yucca Mountain.

Washington's lawsuit follows its motion to intervene in the licensing
proceeding before the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB). Last
week, the NRC issued an order putting the licensing proceeding on hold until
three similar cases already filed in the appeals court are resolved.

In a separate motion, Washington State has also requested a preliminary
injunction to prevent DoE from taking any further action to terminate or
dismantle operations at Yucca Mountain until the court has an opportunity to
rule on the merits of the state's lawsuit.

The Hanford site has been in use since 1943: First as part of the Manhattan
Project that created the world's first nuclear weapons, then as a
nine-reactor plutonium production complex throughout the Cold War period.
There was also some research into peaceful uses of nuclear energy. One
result of this program of work has been almost 241 million litres of liquid
radioactive and chemical waste. This is stored in 177 large underground
tanks, 149 of which are 42 years beyond their expected 25-year design life.

In a statement, McKenna's office said that the $12.3 billion Waste Treatment
Plant at Hanford continues to be designed and constructed to meet standards
specific to the Yucca Mountain facility. Design and engineering of the plant
is 78% complete and construction is 48% complete, it noted.

"In a worst-case scenario, termination of the Yucca Mountain repository
could result in the need to tear down and rebuild portions of the plant to
implement design and engineering changes to meet another repository's waste
acceptance criteria," the statement said. "This would result in significant
costs and delays in Hanford's entire tank waste clean-up mission."

McKenna commented: "The people of the Tri-Cities did their part to help our
country fight World War II and the Cold War - and the federal government
should honour that sacrifice." He added, "The Department of Energy's move to
permanently remove Yucca Mountain as a potential nuclear waste repository -
with no identified alternative - significantly sets back cleanup at Hanford
and puts our people and our environment at risk."

"In taking this legal action, we continue to staunchly defend the interests
of Washington in retaining a potential repository for the millions of
gallons of high-level radioactive waste our state currently houses," McKenna
noted. "DoE simply does not have the authority to unilaterally and forever
terminate the Yucca Mountain project with no alternatives and no valid
reason."

Earlier this month, sixteen electricity utilities, together with US nuclear
industry organisation the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), filed a lawsuit
against the DoE seeking a suspension of payments into the country's nuclear
waste fund. The suit followed a similar one filed days before by the
National Association of Utility Regulators (NARUC).

____________________
Sander C. Perle
President
Mirion Technologies
Dosimetry Services Division
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614

+1 (949) 296-2306 (Office)
+1 (949) 296-1144 (Fax)

Mirion Technologies: http://www.mirion.com/





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