Examination of the Licensing Process for the Yucca Mountain Repository
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S. HRG. 110–1231 EXAMINATION OF THE LICENSING PROCESS FOR THE YUCCA MOUNTAIN REPOSITORY HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 31, 2007 Printed for the use of the Committee on Environment and Public Works ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress.senate U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 73–581 PDF WASHINGTON : 2013 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION BARBARA BOXER, California, Chairman MAX BAUCUS, Montana JAMES M. INHOFE, Oklahoma JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut JOHN W. WARNER, Virginia THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, New York JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey DAVID VITTER, Louisiana BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont LARRY E. CRAIG, Idaho AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri BETTINA POIRIER, Majority Staff Director and Chief Counsel ANDREW WHEELER, Minority Staff Director (II) CONTENTS Page OCTOBER 31, 2007 OPENING STATEMENTS Boxer, Hon. Barbara, U.S. Senator from the State of California ........................ 1 Inhofe, Hon. James M., U.S. Senator from the State of Oklahoma .................... 2 Clinton, Hon. Hillary Rodham., U.S. Senator from the State of New York ....... 9 Craig, Hon. Larry E., U.S. Senator from the State of Idaho ............................... 11 Barrasso, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Wyoming .......................... 23 Isakson, Hon. Johnny, U.S. Senator from the State of Georgia .......................... 24 Cardin, Hon. Benjamin L., U.S. Senator from the State of Maryland ................ 122 WITNESSES Demint, Hon. James, U.S Senator From The State of South Carolina ............... 6 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 8 Ensign, Hon. John, U.S. Senator From The State of Nevada .............................. 13 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 14 Reid, Hon. Harry, U.S. Senator From The State of Nevada ................................ 16 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 19 Sproat, Edward F., III, Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Manage- ment, U.S. Department of Energy ...................................................................... 26 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 27 Responses to additional questions from: Boxer .......................................................................................................... 29 Inhofe ......................................................................................................... 35 Clinton ........................................................................................................ 35 Meyers, Robert J., Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency .................................... 42 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 44 Responses to additional questions from: Boxer .......................................................................................................... 45 Cardin ......................................................................................................... 47 Inhofe ......................................................................................................... 47 Clinton ........................................................................................................ 48 Weber, Michael, Director, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ................................................................ 50 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 51 Responses to additional questions from: Boxer .......................................................................................................... 53 Inhofe ......................................................................................................... 59 Clinton ........................................................................................................ 61 Catherine Cortez Masto, Attorney General, State of Nevada .............................. 88 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 90 Responses to additional questions from Senator Boxer ................................ 91 Kerr, James Y., III, President, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, North Carolina Utilities Commission ..................................... 93 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 95 Response to an additional question from Senator Cardin ............................ 98 Responses to additional questions from: Boxer .......................................................................................................... 98 Inhofe ......................................................................................................... 99 Cook, Ken, President, Environmental Working Group ........................................ 100 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 102 (III) IV Page ADDITIONAL MATERIAL United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Judging the Safety of a Re- pository at Yucca Mountain, NV ......................................................................... 125 Map of States Previously Considered for Respository Development ................... 145 Statements: Nelson, Keven L., Health Physics Society ............................................................. 146 Burk, Richard J., Jr., Health Physics Society ....................................................... 148 Obama Hon. Barack, U.S. Senator from the State of Illinois .............................. 150 Gibbins, Jim, Nevada Governor ............................................................................. 153 Cook, Kenneth, President, Environmental Working Group (Corrected Copy) ... 154 Makhijani, Arjun, President, Institute for Energy and Environmental Re- search .................................................................................................................... 166 EXAMINATION OF THE LICENSING PROCESS FOR THE YUCCA MOUNTAIN REPOSITORY WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2007 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS, Washington, DC. The full committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m. in room 406, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Barbara Boxer (chair- man of the full committee) presiding. Present: Senators Boxer, Inhofe, Carper, Craig, Isakson, Clinton, Barrasso. Senator BOXER. The hearing will come to order. We are awaiting the arrival of three very special witnesses, three Senators, but so much is going on this morning. I think what we will do is we will start with opening statements, Senator Inhofe, if that is OK with you, and then we will move to the witnesses. Senator INHOFE. Let me ask if it would be acceptable to you if we heard from Senator DeMint before we do opening statements. If we start opening statements, and we end up with, say, eight peo- ple here, it could be about an hour and a half. Senator BOXER. OK. This is what we are going to do. We are going to the Chairman and the Ranking, and then we will go to Senator DeMint, and then we will return. All right? Senator INHOFE. OK. Senator BOXER. So if we just have 5 minutes each. Senator INHOFE. OK. That is good. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BARBARA BOXER, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA Senator BOXER. Today’s hearing is part of the oversight responsi- bility of the Environment and Public Works Committee over nu- clear power and nuclear waste issues. My serious concerns about Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository date back many years because my home State of California will be severely im- pacted if it is built and put into operation. If the Yucca project is constructed, there will thousands of ship- ments of high level nuclear waste transported throughout Cali- fornia, subjecting our citizens to potential exposure to the most dangerous contaminants known to human kind. Many scientists predict that Yucca Mountain will leak radiation into the ground- water, which poses a real threat to drinking water in California. This leaking nuclear waste even has the potential to contaminate surface waters, creating uncontrolled exposure in my State. (1) 2 My concerns extend beyond California to the whole Nation, and obviously to the people oFNevada. Billions of taxpayer dollars could be wasted on a proposal that is fatally flawed because it will put millions of people at risk. If Yucca Mountain becomes operational, radioactive waste will be transported there from across the Nation. The people of an estimated 44 States, including California, will have to guard against a serious terrorist threat