And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
from: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Report said to recommend moving ahead with nuclear waste burial site
>H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer Friday, December 18, 1998
>Breaking News Sections
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>(12-18) 02:17 EST WASHINGTON (AP) -- After 11 years and more than $2.2
>billion, a proposed burial site in Nevada for tons of highly radioactive
>nuclear waste is about to pass a key benchmark.
>
>Project scientists, perhaps as early as today, are expected to issue a
>report giving a green light to continue the project, although a final
>decision on whether the site will accept the waste will not be made
>until 2001.
>
>The interim progress report will acknowledge that scientific
>uncertainties remain, but that nothing has been found so far that would
>suggest the site on Yucca Mountain in Nevada should be abandoned,
>according to sources familiar with the project.
>
>The proposed waste burial site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is the
>only location being considered for disposal of more than 80,000 tons of
>highly radioactive used rector fuel that has been piling up at power
>plants in 34 states.
>
>The material will remain deadly for tens of thousands of years.
>
>Critics, including a number of environmental organizations, recently
>urged the Energy Department to scuttle the project. They cited studies
>by outside scientists that raise the possibility that radioactive
>material might seep into groundwater during the many centuries the waste
>will remain dangerous.
>
>Project scientists have discounted some of those findings and have said
>they would examine others closely before a final decision on the
>geological suitability is made in 2001.
>
>Even if it passes scientific muster, the facility -- which would entomb
>the nuclear material in a system of tunnels 800 feet underground --
>would not be completed until 2010 at the earliest.
>
>Over three decades, the government has spent almost $6 billion in its
>search for a permanent site for keeping radioactive waste. In 1987,
>Congress limited the search to Yucca Mountain. Since then, about $2.2
>billion has been spent in research, including construction of a
>five-mile tunnel into the mountain.
>
>The nuclear industry hopes the interim report -- while significant in
>moving ahead with the project -- also will boost chances for
>congressional approval of a temporary waste storage facility in Nevada,
>pending completion of the permanent repository. Nevada officials have
>strongly opposed temporary storage, fearing it will become permanent if
>Yucca Mountain is found unfit.
>
>The report -- known as a ``viability assessment'' -- suggests no
>scientific findings that project leaders believe should halt
>consideration of the site for long-term nuclear waste storage, according
>to sources knowledgeable about the review.
>
>But the report, these sources said, acknowledges significant
>``uncertainties'' about key issues such as the durability of waste
>containers, the flow of water through volcanic rock surrounding the
>repository, the likelihood of water seepage into the storage area and
>radiation exposure 10,000 years or more into the future.
>
>Nevertheless, the project scientists conclude the uncertainties can be
>significantly narrowed between now and when a final suitability decision
>is made in July 2001, the sources said.
>
>The project calls for wastes to be kept in metal cylinders, but those
>will deteriorate long before the some isotopes become safe. Therefore,
>the geology surrounding the burial site is critical in keeping the
>radioactivity isolated.
>
>Critics of the Yucca Mountain project have expressed fears that water
>might breach the repository and exacerbate container corrosion as well
>as allow material to seep into groundwater faster than previously
>thought.
>
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