Yucca dump's cancellation, court's nullification of NRC's Nuclear Waste Con Game, blocks to nuclear expansion

In a blog posted at Forbes, climate denier and nuclear power proponet Larry Bell cannot deny the the Obama administration's wise cancellation of the proposed high-level radioactive waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, represents a powerful block to nuclear power's expansion in the U.S. Likewise, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals' recent ruling, that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's "Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision" assurances of irradiated nuclear fuel safety and security at reactor sites for 120 years was unfounded, powerfully undermines the Nuclear Relapse.

"N.R.C. Nomination Shines Spotlight on Waste-Disposal Issue"

Dr. Allison Macfarlane, who served on President Obama's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear FutureThe New York Times has reported that Wednesday's confirmation hearing on Dr. Allison Macfarlane, proposed by President Obama to chair the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), will likely focus on "waste, waste, and earthquakes." Coincidentally coming on the heels of a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruling last Friday, vacating the NRC's "Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision," the already thorny high-level radioactive waste dilemma just got thornier. 

If confirmed, Dr. Macfarlane would represent "a new day and a new age and a new way of looking at things,” as the first geologist ever to chair the NRC. One of the many risks thrown into the national spotlight in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear catastrophe is whether or not U.S. atomic reactors east of the Rockies were actually built well enough to withstand earthquakes, now known possible at places such as Entergy's Indian Point nuclear power plant near New York City. With the impossiblity of evacuating more than 20 million people within 50 miles in the event of an emergency, significant earthquake fault lines have come to light in the vicinity of Indian Point, decades after the construction of its two still-operating reactors just 25-30 miles from midtown Manhattan.

Dr. Macfarlane also literally "wrote the book" on why Yucca Mountain is unsuitable as a high-level radioactive waste dumpsite. She edited Uncertainty Underground, a 2006 technical look at Yucca's hydrologic, geologic, seismic, volcanic, and many other flaws.

U.S. Court of Appeals has no confidence in NRC's "Nuclear Waste Con Game"

Last Friday, in a major environmental victory, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit three-judge panel unanimously ruled against the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) "Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision." Plaintiffs, including the States of CT, NJ, NY, and VT -- as well as an environmental coalition comprised of BREDL (Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League), NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), Riverkeeper, and SACE (Southern Alliance for Clean Energy), represented by NRDC's Geoff Fettus and Diane Curran of the law firm Harmon, Curran, Speilberg + Eisenberg, LLP -- successfully argued that NRC's environmental assessment of the safety and security risks of on-site storage of high-level radioactive waste at atomic reactors has been woefully inadequate for decades. Proposed new reactor licenses, and old reactor license extensions, could now face major delays, as NRC is forced, under court order, to carry out the long overdue environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

However, anti-nuclear watchdogs must re-double their vigilance, as the nuclear establishment in industry and government is already twisting this court victory into a call for "centralized interim storage" parking lot dumps. This would rush risky "Mobile Chernobyls" or "dirty bombs on wheels" onto the roads, rails, and waterways of most states, passing through major metropolitan areas where high-level radioactive waste is not currently located.

The Senate Energy and Water Appropriations bill (S. 2465; see Section 312, pages 58 to 62), sponsored by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), has already passed her subcommittee, as well as the full U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee (ironically enough, on April 26th, the 26th annual commemoration of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe). S. 2465 would establish and fund "pilot programs" in centralized interim storage, and must be stopped. Help block it by contacting your two U.S. Senators, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). Urge that S. 2465 not be moved to the Senate floor, due to the risky radioactive waste shell game its Section 312 would launch. 

Beyond Nuclear has posted a link to the court ruling, as well as compiled plaintiffs' statements and media coverage.