Governor Chris Gregoire On Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Decision
Governor Chris Gregoire today issued the following statement on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board decision today to deny the federal Department of Energy’s motion to withdraw “with prejudice” its license application for the Yucca Mountain radioactive waste repository:
Today, the safety and licensing board — a panel of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission – ruled in favor of Washington and other states, saying the federal energy agency can’t withdraw Yucca without public hearings and a final NRC decision.
The board said the energy agency doesn’t have the authority to abandon a siting process that Congress started when it passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.
It would be a mistake, at this late stage, to abandon Yucca Mountain as the national nuclear repository. Here in our state, the federal government’s construction of the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, which began in 2001, is nearly halfway done.
The $12.3 billion plant, which is expected to be completed in 2019, was designed to meet specific standards of the Yucca facility.
Currently, there are no other alternatives for repositories being considered.
With nowhere to store treated waste, those billions of dollars already invested in the WTP could be wasted.
We can’t allow that to happen, and we’re pleased that the federal licensing panel ruled against abandoning Yucca.”
Topics: 2010, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, clean energy, Congressman Lee Hamilton, conservation, DC, Department of Energy, DOE, energy, environement, Governance, government, license application, monitor, news, nuclear fuel, nuclear fuel cycle, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, nuclear waste, Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, Nuclear Waste Repository License Application, radiation, renewable energy, safety, Secretary Chu, security, transportation, U.S., United States, Washington, Yucca Mountain
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