The Editors of the Columbian News (Vancouver) often have difficulty finding common ground with the new U.S. administration, but when it comes to pursuing Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a repository for nuclear waste, we are of one mind ... Get it done.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry made clear in recent testimony before Congress that the administration plans to revive a process that was shelved by the Obama administration in 2010. As The Hill reported, We have a moral obligation to remove this from as many of these sites as we can and put it in the safest repository, Perry said at a House Appropriations Committee subpanel hearing.
It has been clear for years that is the best approach. In March 2006, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee issued a report titled, Yucca Mountain ... The Most Studied Real Estate on the Planet.
The committee report clearly explains why, after years of study and expense, the Nevada site was considered the optimum location for a nuclear waste disposal. 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 7 inches. 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 1,200 vertical feet of dry solid rock above the water table.
The Hill reported that the new administration is seeking $120 million in fiscal year 2018 for the Department of Energy to restart the licensing process for the Yucca Mountain site, which Congress designated in 1987 to be the sole national repository for high-level nuclear waste. But, some in Nevada have repeatedly resisted the designation.
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