EPA challenges nuclear commission's authority

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner this week told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it does not have the authority to set radiation standards for the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

In a letter to NRC Chairwoman Shirley Ann Jackson, Browner expressed "deep concern" about the suggested NRC radiation standard of 25 millirems of exposure at Yucca Mountain.

The common exposure standard is 15 millirems. She asked the NRC not to "confuse the public" by issuing its own radiation limit.

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., said the EPA's position supports the state's claim that the NRC is trying to "maneuver radiation standards" at Yucca Mountain (Mary Manning, Las Vegas Sun, 10/27).

An analysis completed last week indicates that deep, hot waters periodically rise within Yucca Mountain, which could cause high-level nuclear waste containers to burst and contaminate surrounding air and groundwater. Russian geochemist Yuri Dublyansky found that gas contained in bubbles found within crystals from the site were the result of "hydrothermal activity."

Former Energy Department geologist Jerry Szymanksi first posed this theory 15 years ago, but it was rejected in 1987 by the DOE and a presidential review panel, which said there was not enough evidence to support his claim (Mary Manning, Las Vegas Sun, 10/27).

Meanwhile, a Maryland nuclear scientist said the DOE's report to Congress on the viability of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear repository is based on the tenuous argument that the waste containers will provide permanent environmental and health protection.

Arjun Makhijani of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research said a shift in reliance to canisters for waste containment "clashes" with existing safety regulations that consider the rock formations the primary safety barrier.

Makhijani: "To go from a situation from relying on the geology to the canister is saying, 'We may not have the best site, but we have great canisters.' The DOE is moving the goal post. ... Whenever they run into an obstacle, they change the rules" (Mary Manning, Las Vegas Sun, 10/26).