Yucca Mountain Now Deemed Safe

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently found that the nuclear waste disposal site meets the commission’s requirements. According to the long waited and held-up-in-court report from the commission, the design of the site had the required multiple barriers that assure long-term isolation of radioactive materials.

Currently:

• There are more than 70 reactor sites around the country accumulating nuclear waste.
• The Energy Department has collected tens of billions of dollars in fees from reactor owners.

From the New York Times:

The stalemate, combined with delays because of technical problems, has become costly for taxpayers. Under the terms of a 1982 law, the Energy Department collected tens of billions of dollars in fees from reactor owners and was obligated to start taking the wastes in January 1998. Because it has not done so and has no prospect of taking wastes for years to come, the courts have assessed billions of dollars of damages against the Energy Department for the contract failure, and the potential liability runs well over $20 billion.

The current federal government has amplified partisanship and increased setbacks for the nuclear waste site and reactors around the country. A political party flip in the senate could give Yucca Mountain and our nuclear facilities the much needed funding and support.

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