NRC Decision Game Changer for Nuclear Blue Ribbon Commission
Jack Spencer /
The Secretary of Energy’s request that the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future not consider Yucca Mountain has been debatable from the beginning. After all, America’s electricity ratepayers have already invested over $10 billion into the repository. And besides that, federal statute clearly states that Yucca Mountain will be the nation’s repository. Whether or not that is the best policy, it is the law. Ignoring this investment and federal statute seemed like bad policy from the start.
However, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission changed what seemed to be bad policy to definitive bad policy on April 6 when it announced that it will not consider the Department of Energy’s motion to withdraw its application to construct Yucca until related lawsuits, which question the legality of DOE’s motion, are settled. Given that such lawsuits could take years to resolve, ignoring Yucca in light of this development would undermine the Commission’s credibility. The fact is that the Commission could well finish its safety review and be prepared to authorize Yucca’s construction by the time the courts finish their business and if the courts decide that DOE’s motion is illegal, then any Commission recommendation that ignores Yucca would be moot.
That is not to say that the Commission was not going to consider Yucca anyway. It is made up of inquisitive professionals who clearly want to resolve a decade old problem and it is staffed by extremely intelligent and able individuals. That said, the Secretary’s charge to not consider Yucca comes with considerable weight and the Commission surely would prefer to follow his guidance. However, the NRC’s decision should provide the Commission with adequate justification to respectfully decline the Secretary’s request to ignore Yucca.