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Jun. 26, 2008
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McCain expounds on Yucca

GOP candidate backs nuclear repository, safeguards

By MOLLY BALL
REVIEW-JOURNAL
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Republican presidential candidate John McCain meets with supporters Wednesday at his campaign headquarters in Henderson.
Photo by John Locher

Republican presidential candidate John McCain still supports putting America's nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, but he has begun to doubt whether it will ever happen and is stressing that he would make the proposed repository meet environmental and safety standards.

"I'm not saying open Yucca Mountain without regard to environmental requirements, et cetera, et cetera -- all the things that have to be done in order to ensure safety, security, environmental, all those kinds of things," he said Wednesday at his campaign headquarters in Henderson. "That may never happen."

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    • McCain said of the project, "It's not clear whether it ever will meet the environmental requirements."

    Asked if he would make decisions about Yucca based on sound science, he said, "Absolutely, absolutely. You have to go through the process. In the past history of this country, we have made too many errors that have damaged our environment and people's lives."

    Asked if he could still be considered in favor of the project considering this qualification, McCain said, "Yes. Yes, as long as it meets those requirements that are being addressed, both in and out of court."

    McCain was in Southern Nevada Wednesday to talk about energy, presenting a collection of proposals that includes a major expansion of nuclear power.

    For Nevadans, that raises the question of what would be done with the resulting nuclear waste. The state's official position is against the proposed repository 100 miles from Las Vegas.

    The Arizona senator historically has supported storing radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain; but as he has campaigned in Nevada, a crucial swing state, he has struck more conciliatory notes. He said Wednesday that reprocessing spent nuclear fuel might be the answer.

    "I think we have to reprocess; I really do," he said. "I think that's one of the only ways out. I'm not a total expert on Yucca Mountain. My understanding is that the first priority to go to Yucca Mountain, if it ever opened ... it will be the defense spent nuclear fuel.

    "So what do you do with all the spent nuclear fuel that's sitting around nuclear power plants all over America?"

    McCain pointed to Europe, where spent nuclear fuel is reprocessed, a procedure that dramatically reduces the amount of radioactive material.

    "The amount of waste that remains after reprocessing is very small," he said. "It's not new science. The French are doing it as we speak. Europeans are doing it as we speak. Nuclear power plants are a vital part of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions. People who are against nuclear power, my question is, what about what can give our children a damaged planet, and that's greenhouse gas emissions? You have to have, in my view, nuclear power be part of the equation, if you're going to seriously address the greenhouse gas emissions issue."

    At the same time as he expressed caution about proceeding with Yucca Mountain, McCain expressed impatience with the current state of affairs on energy.

    "I am open to any ideas that will work," he said. "My urgent request is, let's do it. Let's stop getting hung up on everything. ... We've been having the same argument for the last 30 years."

    Earlier Wednesday, speaking at UNLV, McCain stuck to outlining his proposals and did not mention his Democratic opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who visited Las Vegas on Tuesday.

    Obama's energy talk had centered around criticism of McCain, whose plans he derided as political gimmickry.

    "It's interesting that he opposes everything," McCain said. "He opposes nuclear. He opposes reprocessing. He opposes storage. He opposes everything. It seems to me Doctor No wants everything status quo. No one in America believes that the status quo is satisfactory."

    McCain's 25-minute speech at the university focused on the urgency of energy security, which he described as a central question that too often is politicized rather than addressed.

    "As a country, we find ourselves caught between the rock of slower growth and the hard place of inflation, all of this in large part because the price of oil is too high, the supply of oil is too uncertain and we depend on oil too much," he said. "Energy security is a vital question, because it concerns America's most fundamental interests and, above all, the safety of our citizens from the violence of the world."

    The oil trade benefits repressive regimes and creates terrorist targets in the form of pipelines and refineries, he said, while fossil fuel emissions lead to global warming. Meanwhile, the federal government for decades has not addressed the issue, he said.

    "Even now, our energy debates carry the echoes of 10, 20 or even 30 years ago," he said. "We hear the same calls for new energy taxes instead of new energy production. We're offered the same agenda of inaction -- that long recitation of things we cannot do, energy we cannot produce, refineries we cannot build, plants we cannot approve, coal we cannot use, technologies we cannot master. The timid litany of limitations goes on and on, and it says more about the culture of Washington than about the character of America."

    McCain said he would allow more domestic oil drilling and push for tighter regulation of speculation in the oil market.

    He called for 45 new nuclear reactors by the year 2030 and billions of dollars for research into ways to get electricity from coal without polluting.

    McCain also advocated alternative fuels for cars and reiterated his plan to offer a $300 million prize to the developer of a revolutionary new car battery.

    He called for federal incentives for alternative energy sources such as wind, solar and geothermal.

    The plan might not bring "instant relief," he said.

    "In the mission of energy security, some tasks are the work of decades and some are the work of years, and it will take all the resolve of which we are capable. I can promise you this: Unless we begin this mission now, nothing will change at all except for the worse. When we succeed in the hard reform ahead, our children will live in a more prosperous country and a more peaceful world."

    Democrats criticized McCain's plan Wednesday, focusing on his support for Yucca Mountain. Clark County Commissioner Rory Reid said with McCain and Obama visiting the state on consecutive days, Nevadans could easily compare the two.

    "While Senator McCain believes that Nevada is a wasteland, Senator Obama has a plan that will develop the tremendous potential we have here for alternative energy sources," Reid said in a conference call with reporters.

    In between the speech at UNLV and the afternoon visit to headquarters, where he greeted campaign volunteers, McCain stopped by the Southern Highlands development for two fundraisers, which raised nearly $2 million.

    Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.



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    Dan wrote on June 27, 2008 12:20 PM: If you visit the Yucca Mountain site and review the literature you will find out this is not a waste dump. It is a repository to store spent nuclear fuel. These spent fuel rods are not waste, they are an asset once the USA decides tore-process spent fuel as the rest of the world does. These spent fuel rods are not Hot temperature wise, they are at an ambient temperature of about 100 degrees farenheit. They are hot radioactively that is why they are packaged dry in 2 layers of steel seperated by 3 feet of concrete. Also the US has been shipping spent fuel across the country since the 1940's, I have not heard of terrorist attacks or any shipping accidents in the last 60 years. Lets move forward with the spent fuel repository and create a national asset for future energy production.


    douglas wrote on June 26, 2008 07:02 PM: will those who live within a few miles of the yucca site please raise your hands.


    country hick wrote on June 26, 2008 04:20 PM: Thank you Einstein(Tom)! It's true that our rail lines are vulnerable to terrorist attacks. I think we should secure our nuclear plants and the current waste sites instead of transporting it around the country. Especially if these sites will still be holding waste even after Yucca is open. If the world continues to get worse and WW3 breaks out, the terrorists will eventually come over here. Why give them a chance to plant IEDs set to go off under a nuclear train in "Sin City"?


    voltron wrote on June 26, 2008 04:12 PM: Tom what is your anwers for us uneducated towns folks?


    voltron wrote on June 26, 2008 04:10 PM: Oh, so now it’s temporary? How convenient. You must be a politician, KC. So let’s sweep it under the rug and let’s call it “clean”, so is that how you clean your home? Probably not cause I’m sure you respect you home more than the land it sits on.

    8,000 page report? Wow that DOE must be right. Is this DOE is same type of competent department that allowed 900 plus Americans get infected with salmonella? I’m sure FEMA could write a 8,000 page report on emergency response but would I take their word for it? No. And Nevada’s who care for the future and I won’t buy into your beliefs either.

    Yucca is wrong and nuclear waste will last for thousands and thousands of years. And a 16,000 page report will not stop it. Good Day to you sir!


    tom wrote on June 26, 2008 04:07 PM: I have never read such a bunch of nonsense from these blogs against YM. All of you sound so uneducated and you believe all these phony scare tactics. Why don't you research before you just believe our politicians who play politics and scare tactics with statements. It's OK to be against nuclear waste stored at YM but at least educate yourself. How many of you are scientists and engineers? How many of you have researched the facts and know how this will all work? "Glow train"....I guess you picked that up from the biased history channel program. There were so many scare statements and untruths in that report.


    KC wrote on June 26, 2008 03:50 PM: I am no hydrologist, but there has been studies done with every possible conflict you guys have brought up. 20 years worth of studies as a matter of fact. Including water behavior and the layer of rock called "tuff" which was deposited by volcanoes 11-14 million years ago.

    I'm not saying the waste should permanently stay at Yucca, it should only be a temporary thing. It is only supposed to hold 77,000 tons of waste. I do know the nation has much more than that. You never know, in 500 or so years we may have better technology and ideas to protect the waste, we will never know sadly.

    The current elevation there is 4,950 feet. How they divide it up, I do not know, but from what I have seen, it sounds like they would divide it the way i said below.

    Having waste coming here is much better than having it spread over 121 nuclear facilities in 39 states. You can even see these casks out in the open on google earth. That is just asking for something bad to happen.

    Our federal government is paying somewhere between $300-500 million for disobeying a law in 1998(i think) saying that we would have a place to put the waste. I dont know about you, but that is ridiculous!

    The positives over weigh the negatives. The studies have been done, and people still over look them. The scientists and workers have dedicated their lives to research of this proposed site. Just look at the 8,647 page essay sent to the NRC from the DOE! If that doesn't solve anything, I don't know what will. If we can't store it, lets find a way to renew it, quickly before the waste becomes too much to handle.


    Adam Baum wrote on June 26, 2008 03:08 PM: You are all well aware that Yucca Mt. will not hold all of the country's nuke waste, aren't' you? It would only hold a fraction, the rest will still be sitting in the states that produce it. They need to take car of it themselves, reprocess it, bury it, whatever. We don't really NEED to transport these glow trains past the Strip and our neighborhoods. It's just a giant boondoggle that would benefit few, and potentially put many at risk, especially Nevadans. If there is just one crash in Vegas, where the majority of waste will be shipped through, it could make this recession look like the golden age. Even if there is no contamination, the public perception of Vegas with spilled nuke waste could turn our city into a ghost town.

    KC, you must mean 2,000 feet from the top of the mountain, because in most valleys in Nevada you don't have to dig down very far to hit water. Not to mention this waste will be sitting there for thousands of years while the water table fluctuates. Most of Nevada's water is below ground today, but a few thousand years ago Nevada was lush and had many huge lakes on the surface.

    I agree we need to invest in renewable energy, even if it is slightly more expensive right now. Do it for our kids and the environment.


    voltron wrote on June 26, 2008 02:46 PM: It can still contact groundwater over time. The Department of Energy have no safe guards against rain water. Yeah it rarely rains here but when it does it get ridiculous, and we have something called flash floods. So rain water DOES penetrate the earth and WILL get through over time. I’m talking long term here, radioactive waste is long toxic for many years, long enough for it reach groundwater in about 500 years.

    Address this problem now and not then when it’s too late. Just like our mortgage crisis, our economy, our poor education and poor health care. We need to address the “Pink elephants“now, before they become a bigger problem.


    KC wrote on June 26, 2008 02:18 PM: To the people that say "Yucca is wrong, Yucca is bad" you are more gullible than I thought. You have been swayed in the wrong direction. Both sides of the fight present really good arguments, but I must lean to the side of Yucca Mountain.

    For years, people have been frightened of the word "nuclear." They think nuclear waste is the green stuff on the Simpsons, but that is not the case. The waste that is being put into Yucca Mountain is in solid form.

    For 20+ years, Nevada politicians have used Yucca Mountain as a tool to get voters to vote for them. They have made ridculous lies saying it is unsafe and this and that. People hear this on the news and on the internet, and believe it, because the news and internet are ALWAYS true...

    This is the best possible place to keep the waste. It is already on federal land, no need to go buy more land. A remote location, away from civilization. The repository is 1000ft underground, and even another 1000ft above the water table.

    Another concern is having the water contact the waste. This is highly unlikely. It hardly rains there. The water would have to go 1000ft below the ground, then go through the stainless steel cover that goes around the tunnel, then through the titanium drip shield, then through the cask that holds the waste. It already sounds ridiculous trying to have that happen.

    Transportation is another issue people think about. They have done tests on these big white casks, to see how durable they are. Crash tests, burn tests, everything! I could go on all day about how Yucca Mountain would help Nevada. Curse the 300 word limit! I know i won't change everyone's opinion, but I hope i cleared some stuff up.


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