Nuclear Energy Information Service
Illinois' Nuclear Power Watchdog for 25 Years

Bush Breaks Campaign Promise, Prematurely Selects Flawed Yucca Mt. Dumpsite

Chicago Tribune Refuses to Correct False Information or Debate Its pro-Yucca Stance

PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
Friday, February 15, 2002
contact: David Kraft, Director (847)869-7650;
neis@neis.org

BUSH RENEGES ON CAMPAIGN PLEDGE, PREMATURELY SELECTS FLAWED YUCCA MT.

EVANSTON--Nuclear power watchdog groups are highly critical of today's decision by President Bush naming Yucca Mt. as the Nation's first high-level radioactive waste (HLRW) perpetual storage facility.

"Seven billion dollars spent so far, billions more expected, on a facility that will not protect the public health or the environment. That truly is a ‘radioactive waste,'" notes David A. Kraft, director of the Evanston-based Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS), Illinois' nuclear power watchdog organization. "But then, so is all of nuclear power."

President Bush's selection of the controversial Yucca Mt., Nevada, site to perpetually store up to 77,000 tons of the most toxic substances humanity has ever produced violates a campaign pledge he made in September, 2000: "I've said before, I believe the best science must prevail in the designation that would send nuclear waste to any proposed site -- either on a permanent or temporary basis -- unless it has been deemed scientifically safe."

"Real science has long ago departed the characterization of the Yucca Mt. site," maintains Kraft. "This selection is the expected end of a corrupt, self-serving political process, dating back the original 1982 HLRW Policy Act. Selective science has been used to rationalize expedient political and nuclear industry needs." Kraft says. "The public may pay the price for this choice."

Recent revelations about the Yucca Mt. site have all argued against its selection and include:

DOE's December revisions of its standards so the government no longer must prove that the site's underground rock formations would prevent radioactive contamination of the environment; a November GAO report stating a "loss of management control" of studies into the safety and suitability of Yucca Mt. to hold thousands of tons of radioactive waste; measuring equipment damaged by excessive moisture in the allegedly dry mountain; Dept. Of Transportation revelations that it is not prepared to deal with massive amounts of HLRW transport that Yucca Mt. and WIPP would generate; conflict of interest charges against DOE and its contractors; the federal government's Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board reporting to DOE and Congress in January that "the technical basis for the D.O.E.'s repository performance estimates is weak to moderate at this time" and concluding, "The board has limited confidence in current performance estimates generated by the D.O.E.'s performance assessment model;" and most recently, allegations by John Bartlett, the former DOE Yucca Mt. project manager, stating that the site would never achieve the standards the law requires. "If these are the standards of scientific excellence that President Bush holds, then God help the country, on this and other issues, " Kraft says. NEIS has been critical of local nuclear cheerleaders in the press in favor of Yucca Mt. who have been disseminating factually incorrect information about Yucca Mt.'s suitability and need in op-eds. Among the more deceptive of the factually incorrect items are:

the notion that Yucca Mt. will provide reduced terrorist threat by shrinking down the number of sites holding HLRW to one central location -- incorrect, because by regulation the reactor spent fuel pools must continue to operate as long as reactors are operating, and will continue to do so in Illinois until around 2050;
the notion that Yucca Mt. is in a dry, remote, geologically stable region of the country -- all of which are false when applied specifically to the Mountain site;
the notion that HLRW transport casks are perfectly safe, and have withstood dramatic test crashes without breaking open -- false, they DID break open, in two of the simulations;

"The errors and lies of omission are even worse than those of commission," Kraft notes. (NOTE: NEIS has available upon request a list of these items and their rebuttals). NEIS has challenged dump proponents on the Chicago Tribune editorial board to publicly debate their contentions that Yucca Mt. should serve as the Nation's first HLRW dumpsite. "We challenged them to open debate, on the record, to back up their assertions. The Tribune refused to debate, and refused our request that they make factual corrections to their editorial. One can only conclude that their positions on radioactive waste must be publicly indefensible," Kraft asserts.

The debate/presentation will take place Wednesday evening, February 20, at the Sulzer Regional Library, 4455 N. Lincoln, in Chicago. It is open to the public, and will proceed with or without the Tribune's participation.

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