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December 5, 2003
YUCCA MOUNTAIN Threat to nation's nuke facilities will be assessed
By STEVE TETREAULT The National Academy of Sciences is assembling a 10-member panel to perform a six-month study requested by the chairmen of House energy and homeland security subcommittees. Reps. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., head of the panel that funds homeland security programs, and David Hobson, R-Ohio, who leads the energy and water subcommittee, inserted $1 million into an energy spending bill for the study. President Bush signed the bill into law on Monday. "Chairman Rogers believes that the (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) and the (Department of Energy) have looked at the safety and environmental issues associated with spent nuclear fuels but not necessarily the security focus," said Jeanne Wilson, a staff assistant on the homeland security subcommittee. Rogers wants "an up to date, unbiased, objective study of nuclear facilities security," Wilson said. "The chairman's view is we need to have someone take a look at the issue." Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham cited nuclear plant security as one of the underpinnings of his recommendation last year to build a spent fuel repository at Yucca Mountain. Abraham argued the highly radioactive material would be safer stored in the desert than left at power plants, although the NRC and the General Accounting Office have said in recent studies the likelihood of harm from terrorist attack or severe accidents at nuclear storage sites is low. It is unlikely the new study would touch on Yucca Mountain, officials said. The academy, a congressionally chartered body that advises the government on science and technology issues, has another study ongoing on safety issues associated with shipping nuclear waste to the Nevada site. Congress directed the NRC, the Energy Department and the Department of Homeland Security to cooperate with the academy on the plant security study. Jon MacLaren, homeland security director of physical infrastructure security, was assigned to the study. Officials began forming study plans during a daylong meeting Wednesday of the academy's board of radioactive waste management. The academy's findings would be classified although an unclassified summary would be published later, staff director Kevin Crowley said. Speaking to board members, Wilson said lawmakers are being told by the Department of Homeland Security that al Qaeda terrorists are still interested in crashing planes into high profile structures like nuclear plants, or stealing nuclear materials to make dirty bombs. At the same time, she said, they are hearing from vendors wanting to sell harder nuclear waste storage and transportation casks. The academy will study potential safety and security risks of spent fuel presently stored in cooling pools at 103 commercial reactor sites, and whether the fuel assemblies would be safer kept in above-ground casks at the reactors. Experts also will evaluate various cask designs, including dual use canisters that could avoid having to repackage fuel assemblies for shipment to the Nevada repository. Robert Budnitz, a nuclear consultant, questioned whether Congress allowed enough time to tackle an ambitious study. "You can't do this job in six months with 10 volunteers," he told the board. |
