The state of Nevada has joined the U.S. Department of Energy and Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff in formally declaring its intention to participate in any resumed NRC review of the license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
On Friday, Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects Director Robert Halstead submitted the state’s response to an 11-part questionnaire from Margie Janney, acting administrator of the NRC’s Licensing Support Network.
The top question is, “If the Yucca Mountain adjudication should be re-instituted, do you plan to participate?” The state checked the “yes” box, and left the comments section blank.
The response is no surprise, as Nevada’s leadership has vehemently opposed making the state home to tens of thousands of tons of radioactive waste from other states. As one of the non-federal parties to the NRC license adjudication, Nevada filed more than 200 contentions against the application before the Obama administration DOE stopped the effort in 2010. It has pledged to file more contentions should the Trump administration succeed in persuading Congress to provide the NRC and DOE with funding to resume the license adjudication. Since the new fiscal year started on Oct. 1, the federal government has been funded by short-term budgets that provide no money for Yucca Mountain.
Nevada said it also anticipated filing more than 1,000 items of additional documentary material for a revived Yucca Mountain adjudication. “Nevada cannot estimate the volume of documentary material (DM) it may submit, should the proceeding resume,” the state said in the questionnaire. “The original LSN was shut down more than six years ago, and additional DM has accumulated during that interim.”
The Energy Department, NRC staff, and the Nuclear Energy Institute, the lobbying arm of the nuclear power industry, all responded by Dec. 1 to Janney’s list of questions. Each indicated its readiness to again participate in the Yucca licensing process.
No other parties have responded to the questionnaire, an NRC spokesman said Tuesday.
