EPA seeks public comment on proposed Nevada nuclear waste plan

Washington (Platts)--22Aug2005

Groups on both sides of the debate over the planned nuclear waste
repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada will have until Oct 21 to comment on a
proposed US Environmental Protection Agency standard for radiation levels
outside the facility, documents showed. EPA formally published its proposals,
including the deadline, on Monday.
     Nevada has threatened to sue the federal government over the standard if
the proposal is adopted as now written. EPA developed the rule because the US
Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected a previous
standard governing radiation levels for 10,000 years. The court said the
earlier proposal did not address potential radiation during a peak dose
period, which could occur a million years from now. 
     The latest EPA proposal would retain the court-rejected standard of 15
millirems for 10,000 years, then raise it to 350 millirems for the next
990,000 years. 
     The agency said a 350-millrem standard would allow for radiation levels
comparable to background radiation levels now in existence in large cities. An
Energy Dept spokesman said earlier in August that DOE could meet the proposed
standard. 
     Repository foes said that engineering measures to prevent radiation
outside the repository are inadequate. Nevada Gov Kenny Guinn, a Republican,
said the EPA standard was based on "junk science."

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