Kerry Vows to Scrap Nevada Nuclear Waste Repository

LAS VEGAS, Nevada, August 11, 2004 (ENS) - The plan to bury much of the nation's nuclear waste beneath Nevada's Yucca Mountain should be abandoned, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said on Tuesday. Kerry said the safe storage of the waste has not been scientifically proven and the safety, security and economic risks of transporting nuclear waste to the Yucca Mountain site are too great for the plan to proceed.

"I can sum up my stance on the Yucca Mountain Plan in four words: Not on my watch," Kerry told a Las Vegas audience. "As a Senator, I voted against it. And as president, I will do everything in my power to ensure that your backyard does not become America's nuclear waste dump."

Kerry's opposition to the Yucca Mountain repository is in stark contrast to the position of President George W. Bush, who has vowed to push forward with the plan. The issue could play a large role in determining which candidate gets Nevada's five electoral votes, which were won by Bush in the 2000 election.

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry (left) met with Nevada parents, nurses, first responders, and community leaders worried about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site. (Photo courtesy Kerry campaign)

Federal officials have raised an array of concerns about the project, including a finding that the manufactured storage containers in which the government plans to store nuclear waste at the facility will probably leak and concerns that the waste will stored at temperatures above the boiling point of water.

The site is also on a fault line and sits above a freshwater aquifer that provides drinking water to residents of Nevada and California.

The state of Nevada has sued to block the plan and sent a letter Monday to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission asking regulators to reject the U.S. Energy Department's application for a license to open the facility.

Last month a federal court ruled the federal government's 10,000 year federal safety requirement for the highly radioactive waste is illegal because it is inconsistent with the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry says Yucca Mountain will not proceed if he is elected. (Photo by Sharon Farmer courtesy Kerry campaign)

Last month Deputy Energy Secretary Kyle McSlarrow told the Senate Energy Committee that the court ruling is not a major concern and he expects the facility will open and begin receiving shipments of nuclear waste in 2010.

Kerry said the Bush administration is ignoring the scientific concerns about the site, including the risks of transporting highly radioactive waste from at least 39 states to Nevada.

"This is not just a Las Vegas issue, or a Nevada issue - it is an American issue," he said. "Under the Yucca Mountain plan, more than 50,000 shipments of waste would travel just yards away from homes, hospitals, parks and playgrounds in states across this country."

The Bush campaign said Kerry is pandering to Nevada residents who are wary of the Yucca Mountain plan.

The repository site, located 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada on the edge of the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. (Photo courtesy Energy Department)

That vote and "his later flip-flop on Yucca Mountain is just another example of a candidate who tells voters what they want to hear," said Steve Schmidt, Bush-Cheney '04 Spokesman. "Nevada voters are not going to trust Kerry if he continues to mislead them on this issue."

The pro-Yucca Mountain votes highlighted by the Bush campaign were either procedural amendments or provisions within larger pieces of legislation, according to the Kerry campaign.

The vote that blocked consideration of any site other than Yucca Mountain, for example, was part of a $17.6 billion budget package in 1987.

Kerry supporters note the Massachusetts Senator voted against the 2002 final designation of the site.

Kerry said his opposition to Yucca Mountain does not mean he is against nuclear power, which provides some 20 percent of the nation's electricity.

Nuclear power can play an essential role in providing affordable energy while reducing the risk of climate change, according to the Kerry campaign, as long as challenges such as nuclear waste disposal and plant security can be met.

The Democratic nominee recommends creating a National Academies advisory panel to determine how best to deal with the nation's nuclear waste, a problem is growing in scope and expense.

As of 2003, nuclear reactors in the United States had generated some 54,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and by the year 2035, the United States will have produced more than twice that amount.

Sustained delay to or failure to proceed with the Yucca Mountain project would force state governments to deal with the waste.

There are no easy answers for storing the waste from the nation's 103 nuclear power plants. (Photo courtesy Tennessee Emergency Management Agency)

The industry says that total bill could be some $56 billion - the first of several cases that could determine that figure began last month.

On Tuesday, Exelon Corporation, which operates 17 nuclear reactors in the United States and provides some 20 percent of the nation's nuclear power, said it has agreed to settle its case with the Energy Department.

Under the settlement, Exelon will immediately receive $80 million in reimbursements for costs incurred for storing spent nuclear reactor fuel.

That figure will total some $300 million if a national repository opens by 2010 and the Energy Department begins accepting spent nuclear fuel

Nuclear Energy Institute Executive Vice President Angie Howard said the settlement underscores the costs of the prolonged delay of the Yucca Mountain project.

The nuclear industry has paid some $24 billion over the past two decades for the development of an underground repository for used nuclear fuel, she said, and should not have to carry the financial burdens of the government's delay.

"This settlement is the result of the government's failure to meet its obligation," Howard said. "From this day forward, until the Yucca Mountain repository is open a minimum of six years from now, the meter will continue to run, costs will climb, and the burden of government inaction will continue to be borne by taxpayers from coast to coast."