Nevada wins Yucca ruling

[NVMojo]

September 23, 2005

Chalk one up for the Nevada lawyers fighting the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

A three-judge panel for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled Thursday that the Department of Energy must release a draft copy of the license application that it intends to submit for the NRC to review.

The panel, chaired by administrative Judge Thomas S. Moore, concluded that DOE's 2004 draft license application "is documentary material and is a circulated draft ... not protected by any deliberative process privilege."

The ruling gives more leverage to Nevada officials and other opponents of DOE's plans to build a maze of tunnels inside Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, to entomb 77,000 tons of the nation's spent nuclear fuel and highly radioactive defense wastes.

more...

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Sep-23-Fri-2005/news/27254254.html

[struggle4progress]

1. It's nice to be able to read these documents ...

:toast:

[seemslikeadream]

2. Nuclear fuel train car derails on way to yard

I thought about Yucca yesterday when I read this story


http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/09232005/news/64337.htm

PORTSMOUTH - A rail car, destined for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and expected to remove spent nuclear fuel derailed Thursday in Buffalo, N.Y.
The container was left lying on its side but withstood the accident and remained intact, according to the Department of Energy.

No one was injured and as of deadline, officials and equipment were being sent to the scene of the accident to assist in re-railing the 320,000-pound container, a process the DOE says "will have no potential for releasing any radioactivity."

The rail car was not carrying any nuclear fuel at the time of the accident. Removing spent fuel from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is not a common occurance, according to a shipyard offical.

"These containers are infrequently shipped since nuclear-powered warships can operate over 20 years without refueling," Public Affairs officer Debbie White said in a written response to inquiries by the Portsmouth Herald Thursday.

[anitar1]

3. This is great news for Nevada. Congratulations. n/t

[gtar100]

4. One battle won; the war rages on

I'm so glad they are able to move forward with this positive ruling for the environment. But this is one helluva problem we've got to deal with. Is there *anywhere* on earth where it would be safe to store nuclear waste?

Only our Sun has the capacity to effectively deal with this poison as far as I can tell. Unless we can figure out some way to turn all the toxic waste into something harmless, we've effectively poisoned some parts of the earth for a long, long time. This is yet another expense we're passing onto our children.