Lives on the Line, Now Going to Overtime

It was supposed to be dead. Over three years ago, the US Department of Energy formally withdrew its application to complete the long proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. But today, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals looked to breathe new life into the "Screw Nevada" plan.

A federal appeals court said on Tuesday that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can no longer delay a decision on whether to issue a permit for the long-stalled nuclear waste project at Yucca Mountain, Nev. 

On a 2-1 vote, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered the commission to promptly decide to license the project or reject the application. 

The Obama administration, which picks the Senate-confirmed commissioners, wants to abandon the project.

So what now? Is Yucca back? Not so fast, says Senator Harry Reid (D). He plans to continue blocking funding for the project... Though he's not enthusiastic about another plan that could end the proposed radioactive waste dump for good.

That leaves only two barriers to Nevada getting dumped with the nation’s nuclear waste: Sen. Harry Reid’s ability to block funding – which depends entirely on Democrats keeping a majority in the Senate – or a scientific determination that Yucca Mountain is unfit. [...]

“We’re not going to get any laws passed to change this,” Reid told reporters during a summit on clean energy in Las Vegas on Tuesday, blaming Tea Party opposition for stymieing any positive momentum toward siting a new repository [which Nevada's other Members of Congress have been attempting to do].

Still, Senator Reid sounds confident Yucca's new lease on life will soon expire (again).

“With no disrespect to the court, this decision means nothing,” Reid said. “Yucca Mountain is an afterthought.”

So what's next? The State of Nevada and/or federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) can appeal this to the US Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the NRC can simply rule on the merits (or lack thereof) of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump. And as mentioned above, Congress can theoretically (re)consider legislation to site another location for long-term nuclear waste storage.

Oh, and the rest of the nation can reconsider the merits (or lack thereof) of nuclear power. After all, there's a reason why most here don't want all this radioactive waste in our back yard. And there's a reason why these other states with active nuclear power plants want to dump this radioactive waste in Nevada. Hint: This shit is fucking dangerous.

Radioactive waste is tremendously dangerous. Plutonium-239, for example, if inhaled in quantities as small as a millionth of an ounce, will cause cancer with a virtual 100 percent statistical certainty. The nation’s nuclear plants have produced hundreds of tons of plutonium alone. It is among the most dangerous of the waste products, toxic to humans for as much as half a million years. It and the other long-lived radionuclides in high-level waste need to be isolated from the environment for periods vastly longer than any government has even existed. We have no idea what to do with this devilish creation. The latest effort to develop a national storage center in Yucca Mountain, Nev. was finally shelved [until today?] after considerable expense, because it was not a safe enough site — and already too small.

Perhaps the biggest problem with nuclear power is its connection to the proliferation of atomic bombs. Each San Onofre reactor, for example, produced enough weapons-usable plutonium annually to make 100 A-bombs. The technology to enrich uranium for power plants can readily enrich to the bomb-grade levels, as demonstrated by the international concerns about Iran’s activities. The world cannot survive if we do not reverse proliferation risks, and we cannot do that while proliferating civil uses of the same materials and technologies.

Then there is the nuclear terrorism risk. Each nuclear plant is in some fashion a pre-emplaced nuclear weapon for our adversaries. While reactors cannot blow up like an atomic bomb, they can release vast quantities of fallout if a malevolent force successfully disrupted the cooling sufficient to cause a meltdown. Each San Onofre unit, for example, contained a thousand times the long-lived radioactivity of the Hiroshima bomb.

Nuclear power is far from "clean" and/or "safe". We in Nevada have had to learn this the hard way. And now, it looks like the fight to stop the Yucca nuclear waste dump is going into overtime after all. Once again, lives are on the line. Can this (again) be stopped in time?

Will Nevada Republicans Put State Interests Above Party Politics?

So he's out. (Federal) Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Greg Jazcko announced his resignation this morning. And since Congressional Republicans were already making noise about reviving the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump here in Nevada, it's likely that they'll try to shove it down our throats yet again as Congress must now find a replacement.

So this leaves the Republicans in Nevada's Congressional Delegation in a pickle. Do they do what's best for the state by joining the bipartisan coalition to prevent Nevada from becoming a radioactive wasteland? Or do they obey the commands from national G-O-TEA leadership to screw Nevada once and for all?

Mark Amodei has already turned his back on his constituents by supporting efforts to reopen Yucca and start "nuclear reprocessing activities" in our state. Oh, and we can't forget that Joe Heck actually got this toxic ball rolling with his amendment to allow "nuclear processing" at Yucca. What neither of them wants to admit is that even their preferred "compromise" is actually nothing more than a back door for their G-O-TEA colleagues to sneak dangerous nuclear material into Nevada.

Really, it's a shame that Heck and Amodei have sold us down the river to curry favor with the nuclear power industry and House Republican leadership. Despite the fact that even prominent Republicans like Governor Brian Sandoval and Senator Dean Heller oppose nuclear activity at Yucca, they don't seem to care. Instead, they're pressing on and trying to make us swallow the nuclear industry's toxic crap.

So now, we must wait and see if they will continue to capitulate. Oh, and we'll have to wait and see just how strong Heller's opposition to Yucca really is. If his US Senate G-O-TEA colleagues filibuster Jazcko's NRC replacement, will Heller join them? Or will he let that position be filled so the NRC can continue its work? What happens in the coming days will tell us plenty about our Republican Congresscritters' true commitment to our state, the state that they're supposed to represent and serve.

Why Do They Still Want Nevada Nuked?

Last August, Joe Heck introduced an amendment that would allow nuclear reprocessing at Yucca Mountain. It sent a signal to national Republicans and DC pundits that Nevada Republicans were becoming much more malleable on Yucca (and Nevada's safety and economic well-being) than ever before. Now, Mark Amodei is ready to capitulate "strike a deal" on Yucca.

Last spring, Nevada didn’t have anyone in Congress who was open to the idea of bringing nuclear waste to the state. Now, it has Republican Rep. Mark Amodei — and he says he’s ready to take on the pro-Yucca enthusiasts and try to work out a compromise.

It’s the first specific test of how far he’s willing to push his party on Yucca, and when they push back, whether he’ll fall into party line or object with his vote, as several Nevada representatives have before him. [...]

In the House, there’s probably no Yucca agitator more vocal than Illinois Rep. John Shimkus, who led a delegation of lawmakers to Yucca Mountain last year and has told colleagues he’s tired of Reid’s pushback.

But Amodei believes he can talk to Shimkus and that the time is ripe to start a conversation.

Despite his readiness to pursue a third way, Amodei may nonetheless find himself running up procedural quirks of the legislative process that have stymied lawmakers before him, including Nevada Rep. Joe Heck’s best-intentioned efforts to strike a compromise solution last year.

When presented last year’s almost identical appropriations legislation on Yucca, Heck, who is opposed to bringing nuclear waste to the state, attempted to repurpose $25 million to go toward a nuclear reprocessing research facility at the site instead. Amodei believes that for Yucca Mountain to be feasible as a reprocessing research facility, Nevada would have to accept the waste.

Well, at least Amodei is being a little more honest in his capitulation "move to compromise" than Heck. Joe Heck tried to argue last year that he really didn't want to allow nuclear waste to be trucked into the state, but his attempt at compromise was dead from the start mostly because Nye County doesn't have nearly enough water needed for the kind of reprocessing Heck championed. It was really just another attempt to keep Yucca open so that G-O-TEA dreams of a nuclear waste dump in Nevada wouldn't die.

And now, we have yet another attempt at reviving Yucca. Yet despite the overwhelming and bipartisan opposition to Yucca (with even Dean Heller and Brian Sandoval flatly opposed!), Mark Amodei and Joe Heck keep playing footsie with out-of-state G-O-TEA radicals looking to shove toxic waste down our throats. Never mind that Yucca lies on an active fault and would be an extremely dangerous place to store radioactive waste, Heck and Amodei want to be "good team players" and stay in John Boehner's good graces.

So do they really represent Nevada?

Mark Amodei (& Joe Heck) to Nevada: Get Nuked!

This is in his district, and this would hurt his constituents if built... But Mark Amodei doesn't care.

For three decades, firm opposition to any sort of nuclear development for Yucca Mountain has been a rite of passage for any candidate seeking national political office representing Nevada.

But the past few congressional races, Republicans have been bending that rule.

Mark Amodei, candidate for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District seat, told the editorial board of the Las Vegas Sun on Monday that he would be happy to keep funding the development of the Yucca Mountain project through the Energy Department, with the hope of turning it into a bastion of nuclear research and reprocessing.

“I don’t celebrate every time somebody says it’s funded at zero,” Amodei said. “I support Joe Heck’s efforts. I think there are opportunities to do things out there.”

What he's talking about is Joe Heck's amendment that would have allowed for nuclear reprocessing at Yucca Mountain. They think this is a "win-win" for them in that they can tell us they "don't support Yucca" while giving Republican Congressional leadership "local cover" to continue pushing to open Yucca. They know GOP leadership won't accept anything less than turning Yucca into a nuclear waste dump. And since there isn't enough water in southern Nye County to allow for reprocessing, Heck's proposal simply isn't feasible to begin with.

So really, what Heck and Amodei are doing is nothing more than kabuki theater being put on to allow House Republicans to go forward in dumping tons of nuclear waste across the country here in Nevada and driving it right through Las Vegas. As The Sun noted earlier this month, this is all about the nuclear power industry's demand for more nuclear power plants to be built in America.

Developing Yucca Mountain in any way that involves nuclear power is extremely dangerous... And potentially illegal as well!

With the sole exception of Joe Heck, Nevada's other 3 members of Congress oppose any sort of nuclear development at Yucca. They know just how dangerous this would be for Nevada, as well as for other parts of the country that would be part of the route to Yucca.



So why do Mark Amodei and Joe Heck insist on keeping Yucca Mountain on track to open? Do they really care that little about their own state that they seek to "represent" in Congress?

NV-Sen: Suzy Lowdown on "So-called Nuclear Waste"? Or Is That NUCULAR, Suzy?

Major props to Nevada Scandalmonger for finding this!



Never mind that the facts prove just how dangerous Yucca Mountain would have become if the proposal to make Nevada the nation's radioactive nuclear waste dump had succeeded, Suzy Lowdown still loves her some “so-called nuclear waste”. It’s just too bad she wants to shove it down our throats. So does this confirm her membership in the “Batsh*t Crazy GOoPer Club” with Luv-Guv Gibbons and Johnny Casino?

So Yucca's Done... What's Next?

So is it really over? Apparently so...



Except that Washington (State) and South Carolina apparently want to throw a fit and file a law suit. Fortunately, it probably won't go all that far. The Department of Energy withdrew the Yucca Mountain with prejudice, so it can't be refiled ever again.

Now there is still more to do, as the nuclear industry will appeal this and the full Nuclear Regulatory Commission will have to hear this. But so far, things are looking much better for Nevada.

And our electeds in Washington are feeling much better now.

The move “marks the final stage of a battle that I’ve fought since arriving in Congress,” [Harry] Reid said.

[John] Ensign commended Obama administration officials “for holding up their end of the bargain.”

Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley was deep in conversation with a constituent who had stopped by her office on an unrelated topic when the word came down.

Berkley, who has promised to lie down on railroad tracks to stop nuclear waste from being shipped to Nevada, said “Obama was 100 percent right to dump Yucca Mountain.

“President Obama pledged to Nevadans that he would end efforts to turn our state into a radioactive garbage dump, and now his blue-ribbon commission will begin its work to find an alternative,” she said. [...]

Democratic Rep. Dina Titus pledged to remain vigilant in fighting the dump. “While those who have their own interests in mind, not those of Nevada, will undoubtedly seek to slow down this process, we are well on our way to killing Yucca Mountain,” she said.

And we in Nevada can feel much better now. Yucca is finally coming to an end, and so is Nevada's long, horrid nuclear nightmare.

LATE BREAKING: US DoE Withdraws Application for Yucca Mountain!

Yes, it's really true. It's really true!

The U.S. Department of Energy today filed an application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board to withdraw its application for a license to build Yucca Mountain.

The agency filed the motion “with prejudice,” which means it believes the site is unsuitable and that it has no intention to reopen the license application process.

“This is great news for Nevadans and marks the final stage of a battle that I’ve fought since arriving in Congress,” Sen. Harry Reid said in a statement. “With the decision by President Obama to pursue the withdrawal of the license application and cut off funding, Nevadans can rest assured that they will not face dangers posed by nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain. Through the establishment of a Blue-Ribbon Commission, we will find a responsible solution to safely managing nuclear waste.”

The Energy Department has been planning to submit the filing for more than a month. The president has said since his election campaign days that he would cancel plans to build a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

The state has fought the Energy Department’s plans for more than 20 years. It has concerns about the proposed facility’s proximity to the state’s economic hub, Las Vegas, which is about 90 miles from Yucca Mountain.

This is one promise made by President Obama that he's really followed through on. Just this alone makes me not regret one minute of campaigning for him here. Same goes for Harry Reid and why he's been earning my support. Yucca was going to be an environmental and national security catastrophe-in-the-making... But Obama and Reid stopped this fiasco in its tracks.

And so far, it seems like the recent string of good news for Senator Reid continues today... ;-)