OLYMPIA -- Gov. Chris Gregoire said Wednesday that a decision soon will be made on whether Washington will join the effort to convince the Obama administration not to abandon Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste repository.
"It is a decision to be made by the (state) Attorney General," Gregoire told the Herald. "I talked with him last evening. ... He will make a decision in the next couple of days."
Three Tri-City leaders have said they're prepared to file a federal lawsuit to prevent the Yucca Mountain, Nev., site from being abandoned. Their suit could be consolidated with a suit filed Friday by Aiken County, S.C.
Congress designated Yucca Mountain as the national repository for used fuel from commercial nuclear power plants and high-level radioactive waste from nuclear weapons production in 2002.
President Obama has opposed using Yucca Mountain since his presidential campaign in 2008, and this year the administration started work to suspend the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license application after withdrawing funding for the site.
The Obama administration said it plans to withdraw the license application with prejudice, meaning it couldn't be refiled in the future.
Gregoire said it's the application withdrawal that has her most concerned.
"At this point in this country's history, I think it is a terrible mistake to take anything off the table," she said.
Gregoire said during a recent trip to Washington, D.C., that she thought nuclear energy should be included in discussions about the nation's energy needs and movement away from fossil fuels, but she also has said she doesn't want to see more waste end up at Hanford, where billions are being spent on cleanup efforts.
The waste at Hanford is the result of decades of production of weapons-grade plutonium and not from commercial nuclear power plants, but Gregoire has said she fears Hanford could become a repository for spent commercial nuclear fuel.
Local leaders Bob Ferguson, formerly of the Department of Energy and the Washington Public Power Supply System; Bill Lampson, president of Lampson International; and Gary Petersen, the Tri-City Development Council's vice chairman for Hanford programs, have said they're concerned that the waste already at Hanford will continue to sit there if it can't go to Yucca Mountain.
The trio sent a letter to the White House and Energy Secretary Steven Chu and have said they're prepared to sue if necessary.
Sen. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland, echoed their concerns Wednesday.
"Without Yucca Mountain, waste could stay at Hanford indefinitely -- and it already has been there long enough," Delvin said.
The state of South Carolina decided Wednesday to sue to keep the Yucca Mountain project active for waste from the Savannah River site.
Gov. Mark Sanford said in a written statement that he supported South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster in pursuing legal action against the federal government.
"As we made clear last week alongside local, state and national leaders, this is not a Republican or Democrat issue -- or even a South Carolina or Nevada issue -- but indeed an American issue," Sanford said. "It represents a decades-long, $10 billion promise to the American people."
Tri-City lawmakers in Olympia are looking to Gregoire and state Attorney General Rob McKenna to take the same kind of steps.
"She should be weighing in," Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, said of Gregoire. "She should be working on these issues. From a policy standpoint, we eventually have to go nuclear. We can't keep doing wind farms. We're going to have to go somewhere to deposit the waste."
Delvin noted that Gregoire, the then-Ecology Department head, helped negotiate the cleanup agreement two decades ago.
"I would hope she is now dismayed by the Obama administration's stunning move, and willing to now petition on our behalf," he said.
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Nuclear Regulation Commission allows Yucca closure to continue
Nuclear Regulation Commission allows Yucca closure to continue
WASHINGTON -- A divided Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Friday allowed the Obama administration to continue with plans to close the Yucca Mountain, Nev., nuclear waste repository, where Hanford waste was planned to be sent.
The commission split, 2-2, on whether to uphold or reject a decision by an independent nuclear licensing board. The board voted last year to block the Department of Energy from withdrawing its application for Yucca Mountain. The licensing board said the government failed to make a scientific case for why the application should be withdrawn.
Despite the split vote, the NRC said in an order Friday that the licensing board should continue steps to close out work on Yucca Mountain by the end of the month, citing "budgetary limitations."
Panel urges handling Hanford waste
Panel urges handling Hanford waste
The possibility of disposing of Hanford's high-level radioactive waste while a solution continues to be worked out for spent commercial nuclear fuel was raised Thursday at a Senate hearing.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., questioned leaders of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future on its findings at a hearing before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. On Wednesday, Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., a candidate for governor, questioned commission leaders at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Environment and Economy.
The commission issued its final recommendation last week, calling for the nation to look for a location "by consensus" where a new national repository for high-level defense waste and used commercial fuel will be welcome. It also called for the development of storage sites to be used in the meantime.
Blue Ribbon Commission says U.S. should start looking for Yucca alternative
Blue Ribbon Commission says U.S. should start looking for Yucca alternative
WASHINGTON -- The United States should immediately start looking for an alternative to replace the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, which cost an estimated
$15 billion but was never completed, a presidential commission said Thursday.
In its final report, the 15-member Blue Ribbon Commission recommended immediate efforts to develop at least one geologic disposal facility for long-term handling of nuclear waste. Any effort to site a disposal facility must have community support, it said.
The report also suggested building regional storage sites that would be open for up to 100 years while officials seek to complete a permanent burial site.
GOP candidates disappoint with nuclear waste policy
GOP candidates disappoint with nuclear waste policy
If you're looking for an example of what's wrong with the way we nominate presidential candidates, the recent GOP debate in Las Vegas ought to suffice.
Republican hopefuls -- Newt Gingrich excepted -- rushed to align themselves with President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on the issue of nuclear waste disposal.
Few Herald readers will need reminding that last year the Obama administration unilaterally ordered the Department of Energy to shut down the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository program near Las Vegas.
Temporary storage proposed for vit plant waste
Temporary storage proposed for vit plant waste
Hanford contractor officials are proposing a temporary storage system for Hanford's treated high-level radioactive waste that easily can be expanded, given uncertainties about the nation's plans for a national waste repository.
Washington River Protection Solutions formed an independent review team that is recommending a new Hanford building large enough to store as much high-level radioactive waste as the Hanford vitrification plant is expected to treat in a decade. But if needed, more vaults could be added.
The initial plans do not include a shipping facility. Given austere federal budget conditions, it makes sense to wait to add that when the nation is ready to ship the waste, said Tom Fletcher, Department of Energy acting assistant manager of the Hanford tank farms.
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