S. 1271 Update

[Michael Grynberg <grynberg@Essential.ORG>]

  Issue Update -- S. 1271 Put Off Until At Least Next Week;
  Clinton Administration Threatens Veto; New Reports Cast Further
  Doubt On Yucca Mountain's Suitability
  
  No vote for S. 1271 this week.
  
  The Senate did not move to consider S. 1271, the Nuclear Waste
  Policy Act, this week.  Reports say that the Senate's Republican
  leadership will meet on Monday to decide when to bring the bill
  up for consideration.
  
  Several Senate offices also report that they are hearing a great
  deal from constituents on S. 1271's many problems.  Many thanks
  to anyone who has called, faxed, or emailed their Senators to
  tell them to support the Bryan-Reid filibuster and vote against
  S. 1271.  Information on S. 1271 can be found at the Critical
  Mass web site (http://www.citizen.org/CMEP) in the radioactive
  waste policy section.
  
  Clinton Administration threatens S. 1271 veto.
  
  While the Clinton Administration has long opposed S. 1271 and
  promised the Nevada delegation a veto of the bill if it should
  pass, the White House had yet to issue a written veto threat
  until April 23.  The Statement of Administration Policy states
  that President Clinton would veto S. 1271 because of its
  designation of an interim storage site before the studies of
  Yucca Mountain's ability to serve as a repository are complete. 
  The Statement also noted S. 1271's hostility to the environment.
  
  "The Administration strongly opposes S. 1271 because it would
  preempt most environmental laws, including the National
  Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Safe
  Drinking Water Act, and it would remove the EPA from its role in
  setting human health and environmental safety standards for the
  repository."
  
  S. 1271's disregard for environmental protections has earned it
  the condemnation of the environmental community.  The broad
  range of environmental groups that oppose the bill include the
  Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, League of Conservation
  Voters, Public Citizen, U.S. Public Interest Research Group,
  20/20 Vision, Free the Planet, Environmental Action, and
  Greenpeace.
  
  New evidence of Yucca Mountain's flaws as a repository found.
  
  A favorite argument of S. 1271 supporters states that Nevada
  should be forced to accept an "interim" dump for irradiated fuel
  because nearby Yucca Mountain can already be said to be a
  suitable site for a permanent repository.  This week, however,
  reality dealt another blow to nuclear industry apologists who
  peddle this specious argument.
  
  Scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory have detected
  fresh evidence that water flows through the proposed repository
  at rates much faster than once thought.  According to a DOE
  release, Chlorine-36 has been found in the
  Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF) at depths up to 600 feet. 
  Because Chlorine-36 is generated by the atmospheric testing of
  nuclear weapons, the large quantities of the isotope found
  indicate that water from the surface reached these depths in
  less than 50 years.  Borehole studies had already detected
  tritium, a short-lived isotope that is also a by-product of
  weapons testing, at depths of 1,400 feet.
  
  A repository at Yucca Mountain would have to keep water away
  from irradiated fuel for thousands of years, yet water
  apparently moves though the mountain within decades, not
  millennia.  While dump advocates will no doubt concoct
  innovative arguments that explain how fast water movement
  through an earthquake-prone mountain actually enhances public
  safety, the uncertainty of Yucca Mountain is clearer than ever. 
  High-level waste has no business being in Nevada (which has no
  nuclear reactors) until the studies are complete.
  
  For more information, contact Michael Grynberg at Public Citizen
  (grynberg@citizen.org).
  
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  Michael Grynberg 
  Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project
  215 Pennsylvania Ave., SE
  Washington, D.C. 20003
  Internet: grynberg@citizen.org