Ruling on Yucca site delays waste delivery

Nuclear waste appears to be on its way to Nevada, but thanks to portions of a federal appeals court ruling, it won't get there anytime soon.

It could be coming here in the meantime, say Utah activists who worry that the waste will be stored in Tooele County while regulations for the Nevada site are hammered out.

Nevada's Yucca Valley site has been approved by a U.S. appeals court, but questions about how long into the future the facility must provide protection for people against radiation leaks could delay the reality for a long time.

Utah activists fear the nuclear industry will bring its waste to Utah while lawyers and the Environmental Protection Agency argue over what regulations should govern Nevada's Yucca Mountain waste site.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Friday upheld the government's decision to single out Yucca Mountain as the site of a nuclear waste dump but ruled that the federal plan does not go far enough to protect people from potential radiation beyond 10,000 years into the future.

To comply with the court's ruling, the EPA must battle through appeals, permits, lawsuits and a lot of political red tape to put the court-ordered regulations in place.

The nuclear industry won't wait that long to find a place to stash their waste, said Jason Groenewold of Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah.

"If the decision is upheld as announced today, then Utah is definitely going to be a prime target for the nuclear industry," Groenewold said.

The court's objection to the current radiation standard raised new questions as to whether the Yucca Mountain project will ever get off the ground.

Currently, the EPA requires that the government protect the public from radiation leaks for 10,000 years. Friday, the court threw out that standard, and ordered that protection extend beyond 10,000 years.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham assured reporters that he is confident the radiation exposure standard can be resolved and that the project will move forward.

Groenewold and other activists aren't quite as optimistic. He said the demise of Yucca Mountain could bring high-level nuclear waste to Utah.

"The nuclear industry is going to redouble its efforts to dump the waste in Tooele County's Skull Valley," Groenewold said. "They are going to look for all potential available options, and this is one of the few they have available now."