Nevada wants secret Yucca documents released

Nevada's head of the anti-Yucca Mountain effort said Thursday he has been joined by 13 organizations in demanding the public release of all documents related to the project and its safety.

Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency, said the Department of Energy has refused to release documents including its Total System Performance Assessment of the proposed nuclear waste dump. That assessment is the computer model the department is using to try to prove Yucca Mountain will comply with federal safety standards.

Loux described the assessment and the technical reports that support its conclusions as "the foundation for the license application." All materials relevant to the project are required by law to be released at least six months before DOE files a license application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"They're basing everything they're doing on that computer model and they're refusing to give it to us," he said. "They're withholding it as long as they can.

"We keep saying 'if you're so sure it's such a great site, what's the problem?'"

Nevada filed a motion with the licensing board to require DOE to release all its documents for review by opponents at least six months before accepting an application to license the dump.

Loux said that motion has been joined now by five Nevada groups, another five located near existing nuclear plants and three national groups based in Washington D.C.

Loux and other state officials have long argued the Yucca Mountain site has fatal flaws, including numerous cracks that would allow water to seep into the storage area and corrode the waste containers.

He said the site is also geologically active and could suffer significant earthquakes, further raising the danger of radioactive leaks.

"DOE has admitted the site itself will provide no protection whatsoever. None. Zero," he said. "Yet they believe the containers they put the waste in will last a million years. There's not a scientific body in the world that believes that and studies show once the waste leaves the containers, it will show up in drinking water wells in Amargosa Valley in six years or less."

Beyond the 70-plus percent of Nevadans who oppose the dump, a recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology survey showed less than 20 percent of Americans believe Yucca Mountain should be the nation's dump site and another 25 percent said the project should go forward only if the state of Nevada agrees.