Chicago Tribune editors opine that it has been 30 years since Congress designated the Nevada Yucca Mountain as the secure site for the U.S. nuclear waste storage. Since then, taxpayers have coughed up $11 billion creating a repository 1,000 feet underground that would keep the radioactive waste stored safely. As yet, it is still empty. But that could finally change.
Yucca Mountain is in a remote section of the Mojave Desert. But many people in Nevada did not want the waste, no matter how safe or isolated the storage facility may be. It was the ultimate NIMBY project. One of those opponents was Harry Reid, who for 10 years was Senate Democratic leader and in a position to force his way. As president, Barack Obama gave Reid exactly what he wanted, closing down the entire effort.
Obama capitulation defied scientific evidence as well as common sense. A study released by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2014 concluded that the design met all of the agency requirements. The proposed repository as designed will be capable of safely isolating used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste for the 1-million-year period specified in the regulations, the NRC said.
But the technical merits of the facility were, regrettably, beside the point. In 2011, the nonpartisan federal Government Accountability Office found that the Obama administration decision to terminate the Yucca Mountain repository was made for policy reasons, not technical or safety reasons.
Now that decision stands to be reversed, as it should be. Energy Secretary Rick Perry toured the facility in March, and new budget plan includes $120 million to revive the project. With Reid finally retired and Republicans in control of Congress, now is the time to get it done.
The 79,000 tons of existing nuclear waste, after all, have to be stashed somewhere. Right now, that somewhere consists of dozens of sites across the country, including the mothballed plant in Zion, near Lake Michigan.
Read on.
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