title: Is Yucca Mountain a long-term solution for disposing of US spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste?
abstract: On 26 January 2012, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future released a report addressing, amongst other matters, options for the managing and disposal of high-level waste and spent fuel. The Blue Ribbon Commission was not chartered as a siting commission. Accordingly, it did not evaluate Yucca Mountain or any other location as a potential site for the storage or disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste. Nevertheless, if the Commission's recommendations are followed, it is clear that any future proposals to develop a repository at Yucca Mountain would require an extended period of consultation with local communities, tribes and the State of Nevada. Furthermore, there would be a need to develop generally applicable regulations for disposal of spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste, so that the Yucca Mountain site could be properly compared with alternative sites that would be expected to be identified in the initial phase of the site-selection process. Based on what is now known of the conditions existing at Yucca Mountain and the large number of safety, environmental and legal issues that have been raised in relation to the DOE Licence Application, it is suggested that it would be imprudent to include Yucca Mountain in a list of candidate sites for future evaluation in a consent-based process for site selection. Even if there were a desire at the local, tribal and state levels to act as hosts for such a repository, there would be enormous difficulties in attempting to develop an adequate post-closure safety case for such a facility, and in showing why this unsaturated environment should be preferred over other geological contexts that exist in the USA and that are more akin to those being studied and developed in other countries.
authors.affiliation: Mike Thorne and Associates Limited, Quarry Cottage, Hamsterley, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, DL13 3NJ, UK. MikeThorneLtd@aol.com
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Thorne
mesh_terms: D005844:Geology; D009505:Nevada; D009688:Nuclear Reactors; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods*; D011850:Radioactive Waste / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D011850:Radioactive Waste; D011868:Radioisotopes