Court hears Nevada's N-waste case

WASHINGTON — Nevada officials claimed partial victory Wednesday after a federal appeals court heard its arguments that building the nation's only high-level nuclear waste repository 90 miles outside Las Vegas could pose radiation hazards.

Nevada attorneys asked the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington to require that the Yucca Mountain waste dump protect people from harmful radiation for 300,000 years, instead of the 10,000 years the Environmental Protection Agency is requiring. A longer standard could make it harder for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license construction of Yucca Mountain.

While the judges questioned the scientific validity of the EPA's standard, they seemed to reject Nevada's argument that the congressional process designating Yucca Mountain as the nation's waste dump was flawed. And the court didn't hear perhaps Nevada's strongest argument — that the geology of Yucca Mountain won't prevent radioactive leakage. That question will be left to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to decide.

Utahns have watched the Yucca Mountain debate with interest for two reasons. One, nuclear waste would likely travel through the state en route to Yucca Mountain. Two, as an economic development project, the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation is proposing to temporarily store nuclear waste that could ultimately end up at Yucca Mountain for permanent storage.

The appeals court is only the latest battleground for Nevada's efforts to stop the Energy Department from building Yucca Mountain. The court could decide later this year to halt, delay or allow the project to move forward.

The court bundled together 13 lawsuits in which Nevada, an environmental group and others challenged Yucca Mountain on a host of complex environmental, legal and constitutional issues.

Two of the three judges questioned a government lawyer over the EPA adopting the 10,000-year rule despite a National Academies of Science report saying the radiation danger posed by housing spent nuclear fuel from power plants could last much longer. Congress also instructed the EPA to follow the National Academies of Science recommendations.

"They're very clear in saying 10,000 years is wrong," Judge Henry Edwards said.

Christopher Vardon, a government lawyer, responded that the EPA set the standard at 10,000 years because the uncertainty grows too large in trying to extend predictions to 300,000 years.

The judges attacked Nevada's argument that the congressional process to designate Yucca Mountain was flawed.

"It doesn't matter that the law passed quickly. The law's on the books," Edwards said.

The Energy Department claimed victory on that score.

"The decision-making process of whether or not to choose Yucca Mountain is over," said Joe Davis, an agency spokesman.