Yucca Mountain

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Yucca Mountain is a ridge line in Nye County, south-central Nevada, composed of volcanic material (mostly tuff) ejected from a now-extinct caldera-forming supervolcano. Yucca Mountain is most notable as the site of the proposed Yucca Mountain Repository, a U.S. Department of Energy terminal storage facility for spent nuclear reactor fuel and other radioactive waste.

Contents 1 Background 2 The Facility 3 Controversy 4 Radiation Standards 4.1 Original Standard 4.2 Court of Appeals Finds Standard Not Consistent with NAS Recommendations 4.3 EPA's Proposed Revised Rule 5 Stability 5.1 Geology 5.2 Earthquakes 5.3 Volcanism Potential 5.3.1 Yucca Mountain's volcanic history 5.3.2 Future Volcanism Potential 6 Cultural Impacts 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Background

Spent nuclear fuel is the radioactive product of electric power generation at commercial nuclear power plants, and high-level radioactive waste is the by-product from production of fissile material at defense facilities. In 1982, the United States Congress established a national policy to solve the problem of nuclear waste disposal. This policy is a federal law called the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Congress based this policy on what most scientists worldwide agreed is the best way to dispose of nuclear waste.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act ^[1] made the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) responsible for finding a site, building, and operating an underground disposal facility called a geologic repository. The recommendation to use a geologic repository dates back to 1957 when the National Academy of Sciences recommended that the best means of protecting the environment and public health and safety would be to dispose of the waste in rock deep underground.

The U.S. Department of Energy began studying Yucca Mountain, Nevada, in 1978 to determine whether it would be suitable for the nation's first long-term geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Currently stored at 126 sites around the nation, these materials are a result of nuclear power generation and national defense programs.

Yucca Mountain is located in a remote desert on federally protected land within the secure boundaries of the Nevada Test Site in Nye County, Nevada. It is approximately 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada.

On December 19, 1984, the DOE selected nine locations in six states for consideration as potential repository sites. This was based on data collected for nearly ten years. The nine sites were studied and results of these preliminary studies were reported in 1985. Based on these reports, President Reagan approved three sites for intensive scientific study called site characterization. The three sites were Hanford, Washington; Deaf Smith County, Texas; and Yucca Mountain.

In 1987, Congress amended the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and directed DOE to study only Yucca Mountain, which is already located within a former nuclear test site. The Act provided that if, at any time, Yucca Mountain is found unsuitable, studies will be stopped immediately. If that ever happens, the site will be restored and DOE will seek new direction from Congress.

On July 23, 2002, George W. Bush signed House Joint Resolution 87 ^[2], allowing the DOE to take the next step in establishing a safe repository in which to store the country's nuclear waste. The Department of Energy is currently in the process of preparing an application to obtain the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to proceed with construction of the repository.

On July 18, 2006 the DOE agreed upon March 31, 2017 as the date to open the facility and begin accepting waste.

September 8, 2006 Ward (Edward) Sproat, a nuclear industry executive formerly of PECO energy in Pennsylvania, was nominated by President Bush to lead the Yucca Mountain Project.

In the Fall 2006 elections, the Senate majority was won by the Democratic Party. As a result, Senator Harry Reid D-(NV), a long time opponent, became the Senate Majority Leader, putting Congress in a position to greatly affect the future of the project. Reid has said that he would continue to work to block completion of the project, and is quoted to have said "Yucca Mountain is dead. It'll never happen." ^[3]

[edit] The Facility

The purpose of the Yucca Mountain project is to determine if Yucca Mountain is a suitable site for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste storage. The present prime contractor for the project is Bechtel SAIC Company, LLC (a consortium of government contractors Bechtel Corporation and Science Applications International Corporation). The consortium employs 1,300 people on the project. The main tunnel of the Exploratory Studies Facility is U-shaped, 5 miles (8 km) long and 25 feet (8 m) wide. There are also several cathedral-like alcoves that branch from the main tunnel. It is in these alcoves that most of the scientific experiments are conducted. The galleries (smaller tunnels perpendicular to the main tunnel) where waste will be stored have not been constructed.

The proposed repository zone will cover 1150 acres (4.7 km²), be 1000 feet (300 m) below the surface of the mountain and 1000 feet (300 m) above the water table. The waste will be encased in a multilayer stainless steel and nickel alloy package covered by titanium drip shields that function also as rock shields.

By early 2002, 7 billion US dollars had been spent on the project which has made Yucca Mountain the most studied piece of geology in the world. Total cost is expected to be between 50 and 100 billion dollars. The cost of the facility is being paid for by the public using nuclear generated electricity and the federal government for disposal of defense nuclear waste.

The tunnel boring machine (TBM) that excavated the main tunnel cost 13 million US dollars and was 400 feet (125 m) in length when it was in operation. It now sits at its exit point at the South Portal (south entrance) of the facility. The short side tunnel alcoves were excavated using explosives.

[edit] Controversy

March 31, 2017 is now the projected date that the facility will begin to accept nuclear waste. This date assumes full necessary funding is provided, there are no litigation delays, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) completes review of the License Application within three years of submission, and the NRC finds that the Department of Energy has the necessary nuclear quality and safety culture. This project is widely opposed in Nevada and is a hotly debated topic. Polls indicate that most Nevadans are against the repository. There is also general resentment felt by many Nevada residents over the fact that 87% of the land in Nevada is federal property. Although about 15% of Las Vegas' electricity for over two million people is supplied by the Palo Verde nuclear station in Arizona and about half the waste will be from America's manufacture of nuclear weapons, a 2/3's majority of Nevadans still feel it is unfair for their state to have to store nuclear waste when there are no nuclear power plants in Nevada. The nuclear waste is planned to be shipped to the site by rail and/or truck in robust containers approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The transport of spent fuel in Europe and Asia is routine with few safety or security issues. Globally, over 70,000 MTU (metric tonnes of uranium) of spent fuel have already been transported by train, truck, and ship. Other proponents of the site say that Nevadans' objections are little more than NIMBYism. In addition, the Nevada Test Site (NTS), which borders Yucca Mountain to the east, is the location where over 900 nuclear weapons have been detonated and continues to serve as primary location for any future nuclear weapons tests if needed. The NTS currently hosts a variety of research activities, both nuclear and otherwise, and is the host to two low-level radioactive waste sites.

One open issue was the standard of radiation emission from 10,000 years to 1 million years into the future. On August 9, 2005, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a limit of 350 millirem per year for that period. [1]

On February 12, 2002, US Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham made the decision that this site was suitable to be the nation's nuclear repository ^[4]. The governor of Nevada had 90 days to object and did so. However, the United States Congress overrode the objection. If the governor's objection had stood the project would have been abandoned and a new site chosen.

In August 2004 the repository became an election issue, when Senator John Kerry said that he would abandon the plans if elected and accused George W. Bush of going back on a pledge to allow science and not politics to make the decision. However, multi-year scientific and engineering studies so far support the selection of the site.

Because of delays in construction, a number of nuclear power plants in the U.S. have resorted to storing waste on-site indefinitely in nearly impervious steel and concrete casks. It is possible that a temporary facility may open at the Yucca Mountain site or somewhere else in the American west if opening of the underground storage continues to be held up.

On February 17, 2006, the Department of Energy’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) released a report confirming the technical soundness of infiltration modeling work performed by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) employees. In March 2005, the Energy and Interior departments revealed that several U.S. Geological Survey hydrologists had exchanged e-mails discussing possible falsification of quality assurance documents on water infiltration research.

In March, 2006, the majority staff of U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works issued a 25 page white paper "Yucca Mountain: The Most Studied Real Estate on the Planet" [2] The conclusions were:

• Extensive studies consistently show Yucca Mountain to be a sound site for nuclear waste disposal
• The cost of not moving forward is extremely high
• Nuclear waste disposal capability is an environmental imperative
• Nuclear waste disposal capability supports national security
• Demand for new nuclear plants also demands disposal capability

Because of questions raised by the State of Nevada ^[5] and Congressional members about the quality of the science behind Yucca Mountain, the Department of Energy announced on March 31, 2006 the selection of Oak Ridge Associated Universities/Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (a not-for-profit consortium that includes 96 doctoral degree-granting institutions and 11 associate member universities) to provide independent expert reviews of scientific and technical work on the Yucca Mountain Project ^[6].

DOE stated that the Yucca Mountain Project will be based on sound science. By bringing in Oak Ridge for independent reviews to assess technical work, DOE will ensure the highest level of expertise and credibility as they move the project forward. This award gives DOE access to the established brain trust of academic and research institutions to help DOE meet their mission and legal obligation to license, construct, and open Yucca Mountain as the nation’s repository for spent nuclear fuel. Together, these institutions produce one-third of the nation’s science and engineering PhD’s.

A spokesman for the Institute stated: “We are excited about this opportunity, which is a further extension of the capabilities we’ve demonstrated in peer reviews for many state and federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Homeland Security, and DOE’s Office of Science. We also perform independent verifications for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and we have extensive experience in designing and implementing processes that ensure independence and support credibility through rigorous review.

On January 18, 2006, DOE OCRWM announced that it will designate Sandia National Laboratories as its lead laboratory to integrate repository science work for the Yucca Mountain Project. “We believe that establishing Sandia as our lead laboratory is an important step in our new path forward. The independent, expert review that the scientists at Sandia will perform will help ensure that the technical and scientific basis for the Yucca Mountain repository is without question,” OCRWM’s Acting Director Paul Golan said. “Sandia has unique experience in managing scientific investigations in support of a federally licensed geologic disposal facility, having served in that role as the scientific advisor to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico.” ^[7] Sandia began acting as the Lead Laboratory on October 1, 2006 (at the beginning of the next federal fiscal year).

[edit] Radiation Standards

[edit] Original Standard

EPA established its Yucca Mountain standards in June 2001 ^[8]. The storage standard set a dose limit of 15 millirem per year for the public outside the Yucca Mountain site. The disposal standards consisted of three components: an individual dose standard, a standard evaluating the impacts of human intrusion into the repository, and a groundwater protection standard. The individual-protection and human intrusion standards set a limit of 15 millirem per year to a reasonably maximally exposed individual, who would be among the most highly exposed members of the public. The groundwater protection standard is consistent with EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act standards, which the Agency applies in many situations as a pollution prevention measure. The disposal standards were to apply for a period of 10,000 years after the facility is closed. Dose assessments were to continue beyond 10,000 years and be placed in DOE's Environmental Impact Statement, but were not subject to a compliance standard. The 10,000 year period for compliance assessment is consistent with EPA's generally applicable standards developed under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. It also reflects international guidance regarding the level of confidence that can be placed in numerical projections over very long periods of time.

[edit] Court of Appeals Finds Standard Not Consistent with NAS Recommendations

Shortly after the EPA first established these standards in 2001, the nuclear industry, several environmental and public interest groups, and the State of Nevada challenged the standards in court. In July 2004, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found in favor of the Agency on all counts except one: the 10,000 year regulatory timeframe. The court did not rule on whether EPA’s standards were protective, but did find that the timeframe of EPA’s standards was not consistent with the National Academy of Sciences’ recommendations.

[edit] EPA's Proposed Revised Rule

EPA proposed a revised rule ^[9] in August 2005 to address the issues raised by the appeals court. The new proposed rule limits radiation doses from Yucca Mountain for up to one million years after it closes. No other rules in the U.S. for any risks have ever attempted to regulate for such a long period of time. Within that regulatory timeframe, EPA has proposed two dose standards that would apply based on the number of years from the time the facility is closed. For the first 10,000 years, we would retain the 2001 final rule’s dose limit of 15 millirem per year. This is protection at the level of the most stringent radiation regulations in the U.S. today. From 10,000 to one million years, EPA proposes a dose limit of 350 millirem per year. This represents a total radiation exposure for people near Yucca Mountain that is no higher than natural levels people live with routinely in other parts of the country. One million years, which represents 25,000 generations, includes the time at which the highest doses of radiation from the facility are expected to occur. EPA's proposal requires the Department of Energy to show that Yucca Mountain can safely contain wastes, even considering the effects of earthquakes, volcanic activity, climate change, and container corrosion over one million years.

[edit] Stability

[edit] Geology

The formation that makes up Yucca Mountain was created by several large eruptions from a caldera volcano and is composed of alternating layers of ignimbrite (welded tuff), non-welded tuff, and semi-welded tuff. Tuff has special physical, chemical and thermal characteristics that some experts believe make it a suitable material to entomb radioactive waste for the hundreds of thousands of years required for the waste to become safe through radioactive decay.

Like any geologic formation, Yucca Mountain is criss-crossed by cracks and fissures. Some of these cracks extend from the planned storage area all the way to the water table 1000 feet (300 m) below. It is feared by some that these cracks may provide a route for radioactive waste after the predicted containment failure of the waste containers several tens of thousands of years from now. Officials state that the waste containers will be stored in such a way as to minimize or even nearly eliminate this possibility. Even without cracks, tuff is slightly permeable to water, but due to the depth of the water table it is estimated that by the time the waste enters the water supply it will be safe.

However, the area around Yucca Mountain received much more rain in the geologic past and the water table was consequently much higher than it is today. Critics contend that future climate cannot be predicted to 10,000 years so it is optimistic to assume that the area will always be as arid as it is today. Most geologists that have worked at the site still maintain that the geology will adequately slow the rate of waste seepage to protect water supplies even if the local climate becomes much wetter ^[10]

[edit] Earthquakes

Nevada ranks third in the nation for current seismic activity. Earthquake data bases (the Council of the National Seismic System Composite Catalogue and the Southern Great Basin Seismic Network) provide current and historical earthquake information. Analysis of the available data in 1996 indicates that, since 1976, there have been 621 seismic events of magnitude greater than 2.5 within a 50-mile radius of Yucca Mountain. Reported underground nuclear weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site have been excluded from this count. See "Earthquakes in the Vicinity of Yucca Mountain" in External Links

DOE has stated that seismic and tectonic effects on the natural systems at Yucca Mountain will not significantly affect repository performance. Yucca Mountain lies in a region of ongoing tectonic deformation, but the deformation rates are too slow to significantly affect the mountain during the 10,000-year regulatory compliance period. Rises in the water table caused by seismic activity would be, at most, a few tens of meters and would not reach the repository. The fractured and faulted volcanic tuff that comprises Yucca Mountain reflects the occurrence of many earthquake-faulting and strong ground motion events during the last several million years, and the hydrological characteristics of the rock would not be changed significantly by seismic events that may occur in the next 10,000 years. The engineered barrier system components are robust under seismic loads and will provide substantial protection of the waste form from seepage water, even under severe seismic loading. see Low Probability Seismic Events

[edit] Volcanism Potential

[edit] Yucca Mountain's volcanic history

Millions of years ago, a series of large explosive volcanic eruptions occurred to the north of Yucca Mountain. These eruptions produced dense clouds of volcanic ash and rock fragments, which melted or compressed together to create layers of rock called tuff, forming the mountains and hills of the region.

The large-scale volcanic eruptions that produced Yucca Mountain ended about 12 million years ago. This explosive volcanism produced almost all (more than 99 percent) of the volcanic material in the Yucca Mountain region.

Several million years ago, a different type of eruption began in the area. These eruptions were smaller and much less explosive. These small eruptions were marked by lava and cinders seeping and sputtering from cones or fissures. The last such small eruption occurred about 80,000 years ago. The remaining volcanic material (less than 1 percent) in the Yucca Mountain region is a result of these smaller eruptions.

Yucca Mountain is not in an area where continental plates meet, nor is it located near any volcanic hot spots. In fact, experts consider the Yucca Mountain region one of the least active volcanic fields in the western United States.

[edit] Future Volcanism Potential

Using their extensive studies of the Yucca Mountain region, experts estimate the chance of a volcanic event disrupting the proposed repository to be about one in 63 million per year. This equals about 0.0000016 percent chance per year that a volcano will disrupt the repository. Put another way, it means there is about a 99.9999984 percent chance per year that a volcanic event will not disrupt the repository. This is equivalent to a .0160% of volcanic disruption in the next 10,000 years, and a 1.59% chance of disruption in the next 1,000,000 years. Experts representing the State of Nevada have published articles in national journals where they document that their estimated probabilities could be 1 to 2 orders of magnitude times greater (see Yucca Mountain Could Face Greater Volcanic Threat in External Links).

[edit] Cultural Impacts

The proposed nuclear waste storage project has also sparked concern among Western Shoshone Indians, to whom the land in question has traditionally belonged. The mountain is of great spiritual significance to both Paiute and Shoshone Indians. In spite of cooperative government and corporate attempts to bypass treaties with the Western Shoshone, the Western Shoshone maintain that their title to the land is still intact, and that permission must be granted by them in order for the project to be legitimate. Sixty million acres of land that include Yucca Mountain were never deeded to the U.S. government, and have, according to the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863, belonged to Western Shoshone Indians. The United States government, however, has claimed 80-90% of the 60 million acres of land that is legally Western Shoshone, and has built mines, used it for waste dumping (and has further plans, such as Yucca Mountain), and has tested over 1000 nuclear weapons on it, making the Western Shoshone nation the most heavily bombed nation on the planet. The success of the Yucca Mountain project would be devastating for the Western Shoshone not only because of the religious impacts of desecrating spiritual land, but because it would further demonstrate that they do not have control over land that is legally theirs.

[edit] See also

• Energy Policy Act
• Bullfrog County, Nevada
• Nye County, Nevada
• Clark County, Nevada
• Inyo County, California
• Spent nuclear fuel shipping cask
• Yucca Mountain Johnny, a controversial cartoon character used to promote the Yucca Mountain Project to children

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Yucca Mountain Project (Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, United States Department of Energy)
• The Monumental Task of Warning Future Generations (Yucca Mountain warning signs)
• Department of Energy ImagesUnited States Department of Energy Audovisual resources page. It has a large number of hi-res images as well as videos available to the public and news organizations
• Yucca Mountain Resource Book (Nuclear Energy Institute) A comprehensive compendium of Yucca Mountain information resources compiled by the trade association representing the American nuclear energy industry.
• Official website for The State of Nevada Nuclear Projects In addition to the position and activities of the Agency, it includes links to a number of Federal, State, local government, and private organization websites that provide a balanced picture of the controversy and facts surrounding the project.
• Earthquakes in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain (State of Nevada Nuclear Waste Project Office)
• Yucca Mountain Could Face Greater Volcanic Threat (State of Nevada Nuclear Waste Project Office)
• Real time earthquake map for the vicinity of Yucca Mountain-- Southern Nevada and California (U.S. Geological Survey)
• "Nuclear Waste" - Sierra Club factsheet in opposition to Yucca Mountain project
• Google Maps Google Maps satellite image
• Russia plans to take world's spent nuclear fuel
• Complete archive of Yucca Mountain news coverage from the Las Vegas Review-Journal
• July 9, 2002 cloture vote on S.J. Res. 34, affirming the mountain as a site for nuclear waste disposal