WASHINGTON – The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will press ahead with its review of a license for a nuclear waste dump in Nevada, even as the Obama administration has made clear it is abandoning the project, the commission's chairman said Tuesday.
Even so, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that the agency's ability to work on the license application for the Yucca Mountain project could be jeopardized by future budget cuts.
"Right now we have funding for one year at a time. ... Going forward, we'll see what kind of work we'll be able to do with the budget that we get," said Jaczko during a 40-minute interview at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md., just outside Washington.
Ironically, Jaczko, who was named the commission's chairman in May after four years at the NRC, previously was the science adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. For years Reid has vowed to kill the proposed Yucca waste dump, which has been the focus of intense controversy in his state for two decades.
While on Reid's staff, Jaczko helped the senator frame arguments against the Yucca dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. And even now, Reid has said he wants to halt funding for even the license review.
Jaczko said because of the ongoing NRC review he could not discuss in detail the Yucca license application submitted last year by the Bush administration.
But Jaczko said he's convinced the radioactive waste — actually used reactor fuel — that would go to Yucca Mountain can be maintained safely and securely for decades at commercial power plants in 31 states. The waste could either be submerged in spent-fuel pools or in steel and concrete casks for longer onsite storage.
"When we look at the risks at any nuclear plant, spent fuel isn't the most significant risk that we have," said Jaczko. He cited an NRC study that concluded the safety risks posed by a reactor, although extremely low, is a million times greater than the risks posed by keeping the reactor waste at a power plant.
On other subjects, Jaczko said he wants to reinforce the need to maintain a "safety culture" at the agency and the nuclear industry. He acknowledged some concern about the work load facing the NRC as it considered applications for new reactors, relicensing of existing nuclear power plants and assured the public that plants are being operated safely.
"We've got a lot of things on our plate, making sure we do a good solid safety review whether its with new reactors, license renewals, (or) nuclear material," he said.
Jaczko said he couldn't say when the NRC will approve its first license for a new reactor, only that it won't be this year. The commission has 18 applications for more than two dozen reactors pending at various stages.
He rejected criticism that the licensing process continues to hinder construction of new nuclear power plants as some Republican lawmakers in Congress have charged.
"This is not a simple machine we're building," Jaczko said, referring to approval for a new reactor. "It's not Lincoln Logs that we're dealing with here. We're dealing with a complicated machine."
The five-member commission is down to three members including the chairman. Obama has yet to nominated anyone to fill the two vacancies, but Jaczko said that doesn't bother him for the time being.
Meanwhile, he's settling into the chairman's office at the NRC headquarters — a high-rise building overlooking a busy commercial thoroughfare in suburban Maryland. The office seems Spartan, a bookcase holds loose-leaf binders filled with regulations and other documents, some family and other personal photographs. A bicycle stands in one corner. Diplomas from two universities hang on the wall — a bachelor's in physics and philosophy from Cornell and a doctorate in physics from the University of Wisconsin.
"I've moved in," he reassures a visitor. "I'm just a minimalist when it comes to decorations." About the bike in the corner, Jaczko says he rides it several times a week to work from his home in downtown Washington, 20 miles away. At other times he uses the public Metro. There's a station across the street.