By Mark Waite

A suggestion by President Obama’s Blue Ribbon Committee on nuclear waste to use a carrot instead of a stick to find communities willing to accept nuclear waste was greeted with some cynicism by Darrell Lacy, director of the Nye County Nuclear Waste Repository Project Office.

The Blue Ribbon Committee said a consent-based approach, empowering localities and fueled with generous subsidies and other job-creating benefits could be the way to overcome stiff resistance to a nuclear repository, like what happened in Nevada.

Lacy said the commission ignored the receipt of letters of support from Nye County and five surrounding rural counties asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to finish the licensing process for Yucca Mountain.

“We’re curious to see how this is going to go forward, how many replacements you’re going to find that have state and local support,” Lacy said.

Nye County received a carrot for many years, Payment Equal to Taxes for the land value of Yucca Mountain, a provision in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. The county received $11.25 million when payments were at their peak in fiscal year 2007-08. The county appointed a negotiating team to attempt to get a doubling in PETT funding, they requested from $23 million in 2009 to $29 million in 2013. But Congress then allocated PETT funds on a percentage of nuclear waste money and in 2009 President Obama zeroed out funding for Yucca Mountain.

Nye County also received over $2 million annually in oversight funds for the project.

The Blue Ribbon Commission did say a geologic repository was needed, but Lacy feels they are going to start studying a site all over again.

“You’re going back to the beginning and spend 20 years to get to where we are today with Yucca Mountain,” he said.

The Blue Ribbon Commission advocated one or more geologic repositories as there is already enough nuclear waste to fill up a Yucca Mountain, which was anticipated to hold 77,000 tons. They also advocate one or more interim storage facilities, Lacy said.

While there are several nuclear reactors shut down, where spent fuel is managed on site, Lacy said those states and localities are anxious to get the waste moved. Other locations with active nuclear reactors don’t have the space to store the waste for any period of time, he said.

Lacy said the annual appropriations process from Congress isn’t effective in putting together a storage program for nuclear waste, it requires planning for multiple years of activities.

“We’ve never truly sat down and negotiated for benefits with the federal agencies on this. The state has always taken the approach if you start negotiating for benefits you’ve given up the high ground and your ability to fight to the death on the project,” Lacy said.

While the state of Nevada and the Nevada congressional delegation have vehemently opposed the Yucca Mountain project, Nye County has taken a position of “active engagement” with the U.S. Department of Energy on the project. In 2002, former Nevada governor, the late Kenny Guinn vetoed a recommendation from former President George W. Bush designating Yucca Mountain as the nation’s repository for high level nuclear waste.

“Our role has always been first and foremost to protect the citizens of Nye County. We would like to see the Nuclear Regulatory Commission results,” Lacy said.

The Blue Ribbon Commission was told specifically not to address Yucca Mountain, Lacy said. He said the final report wasn’t that different from the draft.

Nye County Commissioner Gary Hollis, the county commission’s liaison on nuclear waste, was attending the annual conference of the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management in Washington D.C. with consultant Cash Jaszczak when the Blue Ribbon Commission report came out.