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As controversy continues to swirl around the Obama administration’s effort to terminate licensing of the Yucca Mountain waste repository in Nevada, Congress’s watchdog agency has discerned some lessons from the issue.

The difficulties that undermined the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository must be addressed in future federal efforts, GAO says. (Photo By: Yucca Mountain Information Office)

Those lessons might assist in future efforts to manage the nation’s growing inventory of spent nuclear fuel from power reactors, as well as high-level radioactive waste from defense programs, the Government Accountability Office reported.

However, there is no easy way to move beyond the Yucca Mountain impasse, Mark Gaffigan, managing director, natural resources and environment, told the House Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy at a June hearing.

While there are two interim nuclear waste storage options—continued on-site storage or centralized storage—they would only buy time for establishment of a geologic repository, which he termed “the only currently feasible option for permanently disposing of nuclear waste.”

Gaffigan shared “two broad lessons” for future waste storage or disposal efforts with the subcommittee.

First, he said, overcoming social and political opposition and gaining public acceptance is crucial. “The federal government has several tools for doing so,” he specified, including cooperation with key stakeholders such as state and local officials, and long-term incentives and education.

Second, the GAO representative testified, in developing storage or disposal options, it is important to have consistent policy, funding and leadership, “since any such effort will take decades.”

Yucca Mountain failed on all counts, he said, with unpredictable funding that varied as much as 20 percent from year to year and “a revolving door style of management,” with 17 directors in 27 years.

Accordingly, Gaffigan said, Congress might want to consider whether a more predictable funding mechanism and independent organization, outside the Department of Energy, would be more effective in developing a permanent solution to nuclear waste management.

Additionally, GAO noted that because the department could be compelled to restart work at Yucca, it needs to develop a preliminary plan since it shut down the effort without planning for a continuation of work.

Tags: Energy and Environment, Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Obama Administration