Subcommittee Chairman Rep. John Shimkus, R-Illinois , who introduced the legislation, expressed confidence that the Department of Energy fully supports the bill. The waste now awaiting permanent storage at sites has mounted to 79, tons — 9, tons above the planned limit for Yucca Mountain.
It recently reopened after a fire and an unrelated radiological release led it to shut down in Nevada Gov. Meanwhile, Nye County, where Yucca Mountain is located, is in favor of resuming licensing, with hopes that the project will lead to job creation and infrastructure improvements.
Chief among them is the risk of transporting thousands of tons of radioactive waste long distances, including through the city of Las Vegas, which lies about 90 miles southeast of the site.
Other potential risks include groundwater contamination and the corrosion it could cause as well as earthquake activity.
When it comes to air and water permitting, the draft legislation would allow the federal government to override the state. But the battle over Yucca is far from over — and Nevada plans to keep fighting back. Rebecca Worby is an editorial intern at High Country News. Follow beccaworby.
Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles from Las Vegas, was selected in as the only site to be considered for a national nuclear waste repository. A GAO report concluded that social and political pressure, not technical problems with the site, led the administration to shutter the project.
For the report, click on r. The report called for an independent regulator to oversee nuclear waste management and said that restarting the project or finding a new location could be expensive. Nuclear waste is stored at more than sites around the country. Most spent fuel rods are stored under at least 20 feet of water in pools near reactors.
Fuel that has cooled can be placed in a steel, cylindrical cask, surrounded by inert gas, but it has to have been cooled for least five years. For a map of U. The nuclear regulator believes spent fuel can be safely stored for 60 years beyond the license of the reactor, giving most reactors about years of safe storage.
The Energy Department appointed the blue ribbon commission to look at options. The group said at a meeting May that the United States should develop temporary storage sites to hold waste for up to years while a permanent burial site is established.
The commission is slated to deliver a draft report by July with final recommendations early in France, the United Kingdom and others recycle spent nuclear fuel.
Within the House of Representatives, many leading Republicans, such as then Speaker of the House John Boehner, have voiced opposition to the shutdown of Yucca Mountain, which may unfold legally in the future through the political process. In , when Obama halted the progression of Yucca Mountain by removing all funding, federal officials suspended a safety study on Yucca Mountain being conducted by the U. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
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