Yucca Mountain

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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IEER PRESS RELEASE

For further information:
Dr. Arjun Makhijani (301) 270-5500
Dr. Paul Craig (925) 370-9729 
 
For immediate release, Monday, June 14, 2004
 
ENERGY DEPT. IS "RUSHING AHEAD WITH A DEFECTIVE YUCCA MOUNTAIN DESIGN"
SAYS FORMER U.S. NUCLEAR WASTE TECHNICAL REVIEW BOARD MEMBER; NEW
ARTICLE CITES MANAGEMENT PARALLELS WITH SPACE SHUTTLE DISASTERS
 
If the Department of Energy (DOE) pursues its present design, the
nation's proposed high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain, is
likely to leak. This is the conclusion reported in a new article by Dr.
Paul Craig, a former member of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review
Board.  "Rush to Judgment at Yucca Mountain" is a cover story of the
June issue of Science for Democratic Action, published by the Institute
for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER). 
 
In his article, Rush to Judgment at Yucca Mountain (online at
http://www.ieer.org/sdafiles/12-3.pdf), Dr. Craig draws parallels
between the mistakes made by NASA leading up to the Challenger and
Columbia space shuttle disasters and DOE's plans to dispose of
high-level radioactive waste. "Lessons from NASA are generic," explains
Dr. Craig. "They apply to the Yucca Mountain project." Among the similar
management flaws he cites:   

Poor design with the flaws often obvious from the outside; 

Schedule-driven programs, which are "especially problematic when the
science isn't

well understood as was the case with the shuttles and is the case with
Yucca Mountain;" 

Institutional arrogance. 

DOE's present design illustrates the first problem. The Nuclear Waste
Technical Review Board reported last year that DOE had chosen a
repository environment in which the waste containment canisters are
likely to corrode and leak.  
 
Craig believes that a sound design is probably possible at Yucca
Mountain. However, he warns that even if DOE developed a sound design,
it is unclear whether that organization is institutionally competent to
carry it out.  His article concludes, "I do know that the worst approach
is to ignore sound science. And that's what DOE is doing at Yucca Mountain."
 
Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of IEER, added, "With the DOE in charge,
there is no hope for a sound repository program." 
 
- - 3 0 - -

The complete text of Dr. Craig's article, Rush to Judgment at Yucca
Mountain, is posted online at: http://www.ieer.org/sdafiles/12-3.pdf. 
IEER's position on the issues is also summarized there.

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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