Congressional investigator testifies on "lessons learned" from Yucca Mountain, including tricks for winning public support for dumps

Mark Gaffigan, Managing Director of Natural Resources and Environment at the Government Accountability Office, Congress's investigative arm, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Environment and the Econonmy on June 1, 2011. His prepared remarks were entitled "Nuclear Waste: Disposal Challenges and Lessons Learned from Yucca Mountain." Gaffigan conveyed a summary of the history of the radioactive wreck that U.S. high-level radioactive waste management has been for over half a century, including aborted attempts to open "deep geologic disposal sites," or dumps. He also marked the shift towards attempts at opening parking lots dumps, or "centralized interim storage sites," as targeted at the Skull Valley Goshutes Indian Reservation in Utah by the nuclear power utilities and Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- as advocated by President Obama and Energy Secretary Chu's "Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Futurue."

In his concluding section entitled "Principal Lessons Learned that Could Facilitate Future Nuclear Waste Storage or Disposal Efforts," Gaffigan testified that federal government "transparency" and "cooperation" with local and state governments would help win support for dumps. He said "Education has helped foster public acceptance. For example, DOE's contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant gained public acceptance through education and training programs on the safe transportation of radioactive waste. One important aspect of education has been to dispel the inaccurate perception that nuclear waste poses risks comparable to nuclear weapons." (emphasis added) This last point is a real red herring -- opponents to risky radioactive waste transportation don't compare it to nuclear weapons risks. Also, WIPP shipments are risky, and have suffered accidents. In one, a collision spewed plutonium within a WIPP container that had already traveled 1,000 miles and had almost arrived at WIPP. Rather than contaminate WIPP surface facilities by opening the damaged container there, the shipment was sent 1,000 miles to Idaho, doubling transport risks with an already damaged container.

Gaffigan also emphasized the importance of financial "incentives" for dump host localities and states. Such tactics will undoubtedly be deployed to overcome resistance in the future, as the final BRC report in early 2012 will launch a new round of targeting "parking lot dumps."