Bryan: DOE eyes lower radiation standard

The Department of Energy is trying to coerce the Environmental Protection Agency to lower a standard for protecting ground water from radiation at a proposed high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, a Nevada senator said Wednesday.

If left as proposed, the EPA's standard could stop the Yucca Mountain project, Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev, said.

The senator urged Energy Secretary Bill Richardson to allow the EPA to set a 4 millirem limit for radiation in ground water without interference from other agencies.

A standard chest X-ray produces about 10 millirem of radiation.

Both the Department of Energy, which manages the Yucca Mountain project, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will have to license a nuclear repository, have complained that the proposed standard would make it difficult to license the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"If the repository cannot be built in a manner that protects Nevada's ground water, it simply should not be built," Bryan said. "It is exactly this type of irresponsible behavior and blatant disregard for the public health and safety that has led to a complete lack of confidence in Nevada for the Yucca Mountain project."

The ground water that flows under Yucca Mountain currently is used on commercially marketed fruit and crops.

Former Sen. Bennett Johnston, D-La., now a lobbyist for the utility industry, also objected to the limit. Johnston helped to single out Yucca Mountain as the lone site for the DOE to study for a national high-level nuclear waste dump. Such a dump must keep radioactive materials safe for more than 10,000 years.

The EPA is still considering the issue of ground water and has not issued its rule. So far, the agency has not seen evidence that the draft limit could not be met at Yucca Mountain, said Larry Weinstock, acting director of the EPA's Office of Radiation and Indoor Air.

Lake Barrett, acting director of DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, said that some ground water near Yucca Mountain contains naturally occurring radiation at or above the proposed EPA rule. While the DOE has not done extensive tests of ground water, those initial results alarmed scientists, he said.

"It's a balance between protecting the ground water for future generations and disposing of the nuclear waste," he said.

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