Geology and Society Division

"Comprehensive nuclear waste management legislation": the concept has a grotesque, hallucinatory quality - at least to me, who spent 17 years studying Yucca Mountain. The Blue Ribbon Commission was essentially a kind of political puppet show, established to give the impression of serious progress on an issue that became a victim of political expediency. I am using very polite words here. The BRC reiterated all the bromides of any big political face-saving maneuver: the new process will be transparent, based on the best science, environmentally responsible, etc. Here is the situation: almost 30 years and about $15 billion were spent getting Yucca Mountain to the point of a license application. Reid, Obama, and Chu prevented NRC from reviewing the application. Instead, the BRC calls for 1) search for a radwaste site that will require community consent. I guarantee we won't find a site in the US as isolated and secure as Yucca Mountain. Local communities don't even want to see radwaste transported let alone emplaced anywhere nearby. 2) Interim storage? We are talking about upwards of $30 billion to accommodate the 100,000 and more metric tons of spent fuel. Will interim storage also require community consent? 3) A new agency designed solely to find a permanent waste repository - only for commercial waste, not military. When you consider everything that was done concerning the Yucca Mountain project, the likely need now for two permanent repositories, the liklihood that there will be no new nuclear power plants licensed until at least the interim storage issue is settled and two new permanent sites are ready to be characterized and undergo risk assessment,and another attempt at a license application, convincing local communities to feel good about nuclear waste in their counties, I think we are looking at at least $400 billion and no repository construction till 2050. That's optimistic.