Nevada Report Renews Defense Against Yucca

A report from the Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects, approved for release on Monday, calls for a renewed focus from the state in its fight against the Yucca Mountain licensing, especially in the face of what the report alleges is government collusion between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy to push the project forward against the state’s wishes. The report, meant for state legislative officials and the governor’s office, is aimed at maintaining and justifying funding to fight the Yucca Mountain project, which was shuttered by DOE in 2010, but has gained new momentum following a change in Senate control and the recent findings of the NRC’s Volume Three Safety Evaluation Report. “It is imperative for the Governor and Legislature to assure that the Attorney General and the Agency for Nuclear Projects have the funds and resources needed to protect the State in this critically important licensing proceeding,” Commission Chairman Richard Bryan said in the report. “No one else is going to look out for Nevada’s interests if we fail to do it ourselves.”

 

The report specifically argues that NRC’s safety review is not truly independent. “Nevada certainly cannot rely on the NRC or the NRC’s staff to impartially and objectively evaluate DOE’s license application and its wildly optimistic conclusions regarding the site’s suitability and safety,” Bryan said in the report. “As the report which follows makes clear, NRC staff over the years has consistently acted as if they were ‘part of an Administration team rather than an independent [regulatory] agency.’ It is imperative for the Governor and Legislature to assure that the Attorney General and the Agency for Nuclear Projects have the funds and resources needed to protect the State in this critically important licensing proceeding. No one else is going to look out for Nevada’s interests if we fail to do it,” he said.