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

STUDY FINDS NUCLEAR WASTE DUMPSITE HAS SERIOUS FLAW

PRESS RELEASE

For release: Tuesday, December 1, 1998
For more information: David Kraft, (847)869-7650

PROPOSED NUKE DUMP VIABILITY CHALLENGED

EVANSTON-- A new study released today challenges the suitability of the nation's only candidate site to perpetually store up to 75,000 tons of highly radioactive, long-lived and dangerous irradiated ("spent") nuclear fuel ("high-level" radioactive wastes, HLRW). This challenge could have far reaching implications for Illinois, whose 14 operating and closed nuclear reactors will account for more HLRW than any other state.

The study, "Fluid Inclusion Samples from the Exploratory Study Facility, Yucca Mt., Nevada" contends that the proposed Dept. of Energy (DOE) site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, shows definite signs of hot, corrosive water infiltration sometime in its past. Water infiltration into the site after HLRW is placed there could cause an environmental disaster should the waste leak out and into the surrounding environment and water table.

"This study demonstrates the need for thorough, methodical scientific characterization of the Yucca site," says David A. Kraft, director of the Evanston-based Nuclear Energy Information Service, a nuclear power watchdog group. "Whitewashing or ignoring so critical a find, or prematurely moving HLRW to the site as the nuclear industry currently demands without further detailed investigation would be unconscionable, and could have disastrous environmental results," Kraft warned.

The U.S. DOE currently is engaged in characterizing the Yucca Mt. site to determine its suitability to hold HLRW out of the environment for at least 10,000 years. It is expected to issue a Viability Report in the next month. The findings of this study call into question the wisdom of giving the site the go-ahead, before so critical a scientific issue is resolved.

Further, the nuclear power industry is exerting considerable political pressure on Congress, DOE and the Administration to get the site up and running as quickly as possible, and to begin accepting HLRW for so- called "temporary storage" before the final repository is constructed. The industry and many states' Attorneys General have filed damage suits against DOE for not physically accepting HLRW for disposal at the now passed deadline date of January 1st of this year, even though DOE has no place in operation to actually store or dispose of this waste.

"Would the premature movement of ebola virus or some other equally hazardous substances to a potentially faulty, improperly studied site be considered a reasonable, sane request? Will taking more money away from DOE in damage suits actually get the site built better or faster?" Kraft asks.

"Like King Canute commanding the waves to recede, the self-serving nuclear industry is demanding the DOE to engage in unrealistic and unscientific decision making, just so the nuclear industry can continue to make money -- and more HLRW," Kraft asserts. "This study vindicates the votes of Sen. Richard Durbin and other Illinois Congressmen who wanted more study done on Yucca Mt. before moving HLRW. And it conclusively demonstrates the need for thorough and methodical science -- not politics and influence peddling - - to be the final arbiter of the Nation's HLRW problem," Kraft concluded.

Nuclear Energy Information Service is an Evanston-based, environmental, energy education organization founded in 1981 to provide the public with credible information on nuclear power, radioactive wastes and radiation hazards.

Back to the top of this Page