[ RadSafe ] Yucca Yucca

[Dan McCarn]

Dear Group:

Sure, I'd like to see a spent fuel facility opened, be it a permanent or
interim storage facility.  But after billions of dollars of wasted effort
by the US Government over decades, perhaps control of the investigation
should be placed in private hands in the same way that licensing of all
other nuclear facilities are performed. I've worked on the licensing of
uranium mining operations & provided testimony to the NRC. I've worked on
the WIPP (Performance Assessment - Groundwater modeling & calibration) as
well as Yucca Mountain (Organizing Peer Review for the Site
Characterization Report) . But the US Congress simply pulled the funding
for the licensing of YM, which is something that, if it had been privately
funded, could never have happened.  And we owe this to the initiative of
Harry Reid - a very short sighted, knee-jerk option instead of allowing the
licensing process to be completed.

The US Government "promised" the industry a storage facility back in 2000
(or thereabouts), failed, and ultimately the US Congress de-funded the
program in spite of the fact that these funds were generated by the
industry. So, the license to operate never happened.  I can understand the
nuclear industry's and the Court's frustration in this failed program.  The
US Government is still obligated to "find" an alternative, but the "No
Action" option is simply wrong.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/19/usa-courts-nuclear-idUSL2N0J40YX20131119

Perhaps the best option will be for the Court to appoint a Special Master
to manage the billions of dollars of funds and allow a private licensing
option to proceed in spite of the interference by the US Congress.

However, at this point, perhaps a centralized interim storage facility
would be a more likely short-term course of action given the storage issues
at nuclear power plants, but I'd never again trust the action of licensing
to the US Government.

My opinion only.

Dan ii

Dan W McCarn, Geologist
108 Sherwood Blvd
Los Alamos, NM 87544-3425
+1-505-672-2014 (Home – New Mexico)
+1-505-670-8123 (Mobile - New Mexico)
HotGreenChile at gmail.com (Private email) HotGreenChile at gmail dot com


On Thu, Nov 21, 2013 at 10:46 AM, <JPreisig at aol.com> wrote:

> Dear Radsafe,
>
>      Maybe Yucca Mountain could begin to receive spent  fuel one day soon.
> I'd rather have the spent fuel at Yucca Mountain than  at individual
> nuclear plants.
>
>     Is it time to try one test shipment of spent fuel via  truck or rail???
>  Why not???
>
>
>     Joe Preisig
>
>
>
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