ENS reports that Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) cries of "NIMBY"* have been answered. After negotiations with Team 44, Reid announced last week that all funding to pursue a license application for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository [photo] will be cut off in the 2011 budget. The agreement follows the cutting of $27 million in the 2010 budget {3.9.09}. The $196 million in funding that remains for the nation's only high level radioactive waste dump will be used to close down the facility and fund a commission to develop alternative waste disposal solutions. Currently 77,000 tons of high level nuclear waste that was supposed to be shipped to Yucca Mountain for storage is being held in temporary surface storage at 131 sites in 39 states. The facility suffered a major setback in 2005 when it was discovered that a USGS employee falsified documentation of computer models simulating water infiltration of the site. In 2008 the EPA had to revise its dose limits for exposure to satisfy a 2004 federal court order extending the standard's duration from 10,000 years to 1 million years. The court also required the consideration of geophysical hazards and corrosion during the 1 million year period. Since 1976 there have been 621 seismic events of 2.5 or greater within a 2.5 mile radius of Yucca Mountain, excluding underground nuclear weapons testing at the nearby Nevada Test Site. The volcanic ridge is fractured and critics are concerned that migrating ground water coupled with in situ mineral salts would corrode the waste containment vessels thereby releasing radioactivity into the environment. Despite the unsuitable geology, the Regime approved the site as a permanent repository in 2002, and pursued an operating license application in June, 2008. The Department of Energy is being sued by the nuclear power industry seeking billions in damages from taxpayers for delays associated with the project.
*NIMBY: not in my back yard. US Person claims credit for coining this popular acronym while working in the Texas oil 'bidness' in the early eighties.