Monday, April 29, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Whether scientists can stuff the nuclear waste genie back into the bottle for milleniums is the central focus of an international conference opening today in Las Vegas.
The seventh annual High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference and Exposition, running through Friday at The Mirage, will feature federal officials as well as hundreds of scientists, engineers and experts discussing the technical, social and political issues swirling around nuclear waste.
U.S. Department of Energy officials, state public utility representatives and nuclear waste industry executives will debate a new push in Congress to revise high-level nuclear waste laws crafted in 1982 and 1987.
In 1987, Congress singled out Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the only site for study as the nation's high-level nuclear waste dump.
Legislation could change the direction of the nation's nuclear waste management program. House and Senate bills have been introduced to temporarily store commercial irradiated fuel from more than 100 nuclear reactors at the Nevada Test Site or Yucca Mountain. But temporary storage in the same state as a study site is against the current law.
Radiation standards are also under fire for a proposed nuclear dump.
A University of California, Berkeley scientist has challenged a National Academy of Sciences report setting radiation standards for Yucca Mountain. Thomas Pigford, a member of the NAS panel, will present his views on how lenient a radiation exposure standard should be for Yucca Mountain.
Microbes in soils can affect containers and their radioactive contents. Microbiologists studying the complex desert ecology will report the latest findings on organisms attacking cask materials.
Earthquake predictions and their effects on groundwater at Yucca Mountain are also on the agenda.
The conference is sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers and American Nuclear Society and hosted by UNLV.
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