Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
2/27/2015
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency denied this week any plans to use the Yucca Mountain site for testing related to catastrophe scenario studies. Although DTRA confirmed that officials recently visited the site, the agency denied recent reports that claimed DTRA and the Department of Energy were in talks that would enable the agency to use the underground tunnels at the site for testing that could render Yucca Mountain unusable as a repository. “The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has never used the Yucca Mountain site for any testing activity and we have no plans to do so in the future,” DTRA spokesman Dan Gaffney said this week. “As the Yucca Mountain complex falls under the responsibility of the Department of Energy, please direct any other questions you may have about the site to the Department of Energy’s Public Affairs Office.” DOE did not respond to calls for comment.
DTRA’s visit to the site, though, prompted House lawmakers, including House Energy and Commerce Chair Fred Upton (R-Mich.), along with Reps. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) and Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), to send a letter this week to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz calling for the discontinuation of any DTRA activities that would affect the Yucca Mountain site. “We have learned that officials from the Department of Energy and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency have discussed the possibility of conducting activities at or near the Yucca Mountain site that are not related to the statutorily required uses for the site and adjacent lands,” the letter said. “We are concerned about the legal and policy implications of any activities that may in any way affect the adequacy if the site for its statutorily required use for high level waste and spent nuclear fuel disposition, including any activity that could affect the pace of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s consideration of the Yucca Mountain license application.”
DTRA: Tours Don’t Mean Testing Will Occur
According to Gaffney, DTRA officials recently toured the Yucca Mountain site, but that does not mean testing will be occurring there. “DTRA has not and will not be doing testing at the Yucca Mountain site,” Gaffney said. “DTRA officials did tour the facility, just as they tour many DOE facilities, but it was not with the intent to conduct work at the Yucca Mountain site. DTRA’s mission includes development and testing of technologies to determine the nature and status of adversary underground facilities (UGFs), because these UGFs are often used to protect adversary Weapons of Mass Destruction materials or capabilities. As a result, DTRA program managers periodically visit DoD and DOE sites to look at existing UGFs and make assessments. This type of visit does not imply that DTRA is interested or is planning to conduct testing at the Yucca Mountain site.”
DOE Says Yucca Mountain ‘Unworkable’ for Waste
DOE has maintained, despite Republican pressure, that Yucca Mountain remains “unworkable” for spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste storage due to the lack of consent for the repository in Nevada. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz has emphasized that the Department’s strategy has not changed in the new Congress, which includes Republican control of both houses. DOE still intends on moving forward with a pilot interim storage facility as the preferred strategy to satisfy the nation’s spent fuel disposal needs, but due to language in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the Department cannot consider other sites beyond Yucca Mountain without congressional approval. In its Fiscal Year 2016 budget request , DOE asked for a reform that would enable it to move forward with its waste management strategy, but it remains to be seen whether that language will make it into legislation.
