EPA looks ahead 1 million years in Yucca plan; Nevada officials say future radiation levels too high
 

WASHINGTON Conceding there's no way to know what life will be like in a million years, the Environmental Protection Agency nevertheless proposed limits Tuesday on how much radiation a person should be exposed to from a nuclear waste dump in that distant time.

The proposal would limit exposure near the proposed Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada to 15 millirems a year for 10,000 years into the future, but then increase the allowable level to 350 millirems for up to 1 million years.

That higher level is more than three times what is allowed from nuclear facilities today by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

A standard chest X-ray is about 10 millirems.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a staunch critic of the Yucca project, called the standard the product of "voodoo science and arbitrary numbers." The state's other senator, Republican John Ensign, said the standard had no scientific basis and was "a blatant disregard for ... the health of Nevadans."

Asked if there was any way to assure such a standard would be relevant or be met that far in the future, the EPA's Jeffrey Holmstead replied, "We do the best job given all the science we have."

The radiation exposure issue has threatened to cripple the government's plans to bury 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste mostly used reactor fuel rods now at commercial power plants beneath a volcanic ridge at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert 90 miles from Las Vegas.

A year ago a federal court said the EPA standard, which is supposed to ensure nearby residents won't be harmed by leaking radioactivity from the dump, was inadequate because it didn't establish exposure limits beyond 10,000 years.

On Tuesday, the EPA announced a revised standard that reaches out to a million years.

"That's longer, many times longer than human history," said Holmstead, adding that he's certain the rule will be protective of the public. Once the standard is made final after a comment period, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will decide whether the Yucca facility's design is adequate to meet it.

"We're setting a standard that not only protects our children, our grandchildren... it will protect the next 25,000 generations," said Holmstead.

But opponents of the Yucca waste project, including Nevada officials, saw it differently.

"In short, they've decided to kill a few people," said Joe Egan, an attorney who represented Nevada in the court fight over the project. "This is an obvious effort to give the project a pass" after the 10,000-year period.

Egan said the standard would allow as much as 700 millirems of radiation exposure a year, when added to the 350 millirems of natural background radiation in the Yucca area. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which must still approve a permit for the Yucca waste site, limits public radiation exposure from nuclear facilities it licenses to no more than 100 millirems per year.

Holmstead, who heads the EPA's air and radiation office, said a person living near the Yucca site will not be subjected to radiation "higher than people are routinely exposed to throughout the country" from natural background sources.

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