Fight nuclear waste decision
Opponents of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site celebrated its supposed demise in a mock funeral in Nevada on Tuesday. But a former governor cautioned that the ceremony might be premature.
“To paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of his death are greatly exaggerated,” former Nevada governor Robert List said of the project in comments quoted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
As Mr. List observed, there is strong opposition to the administration’s decision to abandon Yucca Mountain as a long-term disposal site for high level radioactive waste. Opponents can be expected to fight the decision in the courts and at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. And with good reason.
Billions have been spent on the project, with assurance from the federal government that it would be able to take commercial nuclear waste now stored at reactor sites across the nation. Ratepayers have funded the project through a surcharge on their utility bills.
S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster has taken legal action to reverse the decision. So has Aiken County, the location of the Savannah River Site. And so have residents near a defense site in Washington state.
Small wonder. SRS stores massive quantities of high level radioactive waste related to its long-standing defense role. SRS has since undertaken additional missions for the federal government, and could end up holding the bag on more tons of waste.
On our Commentary page, columnist Jay Ambrose details some of the reasons that this short-sighted decision by President Obama warrants opposition. Not the least of those objections is the potential fallout to increased nuclear power production, touted by Mr. Obama. Finding a single, safe, secure repository for high level radioactive waste is essential to the expansion of nuclear power in the United States.
Most Americans would agree the national interest in opening the remote Yucca Mountain site for waste disposal is greater than, say, giving Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid a home-state victory for his re-election campaign.
On a parochial level, this ill-considered decision should be opposed by every congressman whose constituents get their power from nuclear power plants. It also should be opposed by every congressman who supports energy independence for this nation.
For South Carolina, the stakes are equally substantial. Without a dedicated federal nuclear waste site, SRS will be the de facto dump for much of the nation’s defense waste — a role that the site isn’t designed to handle.
