Brendan Hoffman
Victory in Yucca Mountain Lawsuit;
Fri Jul 9, 2004 16:12
64.140.158.22

P R E S S R E L E A S E

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Michele Boyd (202) 454-5134
July 9, 2004 or
(202) 494-0785

Erica Hartman (202) 454-5174

Victory in Yucca Mountain Lawsuit; Court Overrules Government's Lax
Radiation Standards for Nuclear Waste

Statement of Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook

Today's ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) illegally set its
radiation release standards for groundwater for the proposed high-level
radioactive waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, marks a major victory
for citizens of Nevada, for the environment and for science over
politics.

The EPA set 10,000 years as the period during which radiation in
the groundwater cannot exceed drinking water standards at the site's
boundary, but this time frame would not protect the health of future
generations. As the court ruled, the Energy Policy Act requires that the
EPA determine public health and safety standards for Yucca Mountain
"based upon and consistent with" the National Academy of Sciences'
recommendations. The Academy's recommendation is that the compliance
period should extend through the time of the peak risk for radiation
doses from the repository, which studies show are likely to occur in
300,000 years or more. To compensate for Yucca's geologic unsuitability,
the EPA ignored the findings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"It would have been one thing had EPA taken the Academy's
recommendations into account and then tailored a standard that
accommodated the agency's policy concerns. But that is not what EPA
did," the Court wrote in its ruling. "Instead, it unabashedly rejected
NAS's findings, and then went on to promulgate a dramatically different
standard, one that the Academy had expressly rejected."

Given this ruling, the Yucca Mountain Project should be
finished. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) must show that it can
prevent groundwater contamination above drinking water standards at the
compliance boundary for 300,000 years - a standard that the DOE's own
analysis shows the Yucca Mountain site cannot meet. The EPA faces the
choice of either appealing the decision or revising its standard. The
rules have been bent too often to promote Yucca Mountain. We will be
watching closely to see if the EPA makes a wise choice and protects
future generations, as the court mandated.

To read the court's decision, go to
http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200407/01-1258a.pdf

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5 Million Die of Radiation Poisioning


Nevada officials declare victory after Yucca Mountain ruling
San Jose Mercury News (subscription), CA - 51 minutes ago
LAS VEGAS - Nevada officials declared victory Friday in their fight to stop the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, saying they don't think the Energy ...

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