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Environment

Repository on Hold

Court rejects EPA's radiation standard for Yucca Mountain

by Jeff Johnson
July 19, 2004 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 82, Issue 29

A three-judge federal panel has dismissed all but one claim by the State of Nevada and environmental groups in litigation opposing the federal government's decision to build a high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The one decision in opponents' favor, however, could have a significant impact on the repository's fate.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the federal government must develop a plan to protect the public beyond the 10,000-year compliance period selected by EPA in repository regulations. EPA's 10,000-year standard would have been used by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to assess the Department of Energy's repository design.

EPA is required by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to base its regulations on the views of the National Academy of Sciences, the court ruled. A decade ago, NAS said EPA must use peak exposure--without reference to time--to set parameters for a repository design that would protect humans. EPA chose not to follow that recommendation.

DOE scientists have said that radioactivity levels for potentially exposed individuals will peak at more than 300,000 years after the waste is placed in the repository. Around 480,000 years, levels are estimated to exceed EPA -designated safe levels by a factor of 10 (C&EN, July 8, 2002, page 20). But federal scientists have also warned of the difficulty in designing a repository to meet safety requirements so far into the future.

The court offered the government two options: modify its regulations to comply with NAS recommendations or return to Congress and seek to change the law. DOE officials say they have not decided whether to appeal and intend to move ahead and file for an NRC permit by December.

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