Committee Democrats Push Fairness and Equity in Siting Next Nuclear Waste Repository

Press Release

Today, the Subcommittees on Investigations and Oversight and Energy and Environment held a hearing entitled, "Review of the Blue Ribbon Commissions Draft Report on America's Nuclear Future." However, in reality, the hearing focused primarily on the President's decision to stop the process of opening Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a nuclear waste repository.

In 1984, the Department of Energy (DOE) selected ten locations in six states for consideration as potential nuclear waste repository sites. President Ronald Reagan approved three of those sites for intensive scientific study: Hanford, Washington; Deaf Smith County, Texas; and Yucca Mountain in Nevada. In 1987, Congress amended the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and directed DOE to study only Yucca Mountain.

Throughout the process, the overwhelming majority of Nevadans have objected to the use of Yucca Mountain. During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama promised that Yucca Mountain would not be used as a nuclear waste repository, and he has since taken action to fulfill that promise. The Committee Republicans issued a staff report pointing out that the President's decision was politically motivated. However, their report fails to acknowledge that the process of selecting and constructing a site has, since the beginning, been dictated largely by Washington politics and moved forward despite strong public opposition in the state. This was most recently highlighted in a debate in which three of the Republican Presidential candidates characterized Congress' choice of Yucca Mountain as an unfair imposition on Nevadans, and called for a new site selection process.

Rep. Paul Tonko, Ranking Member of the Investigations and Oversight Committee began the hearing by explaining that Yucca Mountain was not selected through a scientific process, but through a political one. He said, "In 1987, two of the leading alternative sites had powerful political patrons…It may not be too much of a shock to learn that those sites were pulled out of the competition by Congress, thereby leaving Yucca Mountain as the only alternative. At the time, Harry Reid, was in his first year as a Senator from Nevada. Two decades later, the situation has changed in remarkable ways, but with predictable consequences."

Mr. Tonko continued, "Let me be clear, it was not science that led Yucca to be selected, but political muscle exercised by highly influential Members of the House and Senate. However, none of this is in the Majority staff's report…To try to claim that Yucca is solely about science defaces the history of the site, the motives of President Obama, and even the positions of leading Republican Presidential candidates such as Governor Romney, Governor Perry, and Congressman Paul."

Rep. Brad Miller, Ranking Member of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee, said in his opening statement, "This is a very odd hearing. We are considering a draft report of a blue ribbon commission with no witnesses from the commission to explain even their tentative findings. It is very likely that we will need to rely on nuclear power more in the future, but with nuclear power still far more expensive than other forms of energy and with the construction of nuclear power plants requiring the capital investment of many billions of dollars, which investors have been understandably reluctant to put down, it is not at all clear why we did not wait at least until the commission issued a final report."

Mr. Miller continued, "We do need more science and less politics in this decision, but there is little to suggest today's hearing is a move towards science, away from politics."

Democrats asked witnesses how lessons learned from Yucca Mountain could improve future processes for the development of nuclear waste repositories. Dr. Roger Kasperson, Professor Emeritus from Clark University, stated, "In the history of radioactive waste management, not only in the U.S., but elsewhere, there has never been a purely scientific process as far as I know. There has always been a mixture of politics and science, and the interaction between the two."

Dr. Kasperson later continued, "If you rely on coercion rather than trying to achieve a high degree of voluntary consent, you're going to find yourself in a war with local states."

Mr. Tonko closed his opening statement, "I don't want to say that Yucca will never be used as a repository for waste, but if it is opened, it should be because Nevadans are willing to take the waste, not because 49 states have forced it on them."

Source