USNEF Statement on the BRC Report on
"America's Nuclear Future"
"Our
freedoms can only be maintained by the advancement of technologies that
serve mankind- not advancing technology puts Freedom at Risk and our
freedom is threatened because we don't take the time to participate in
it"
We
fully support the member efforts of the BRC committee and the resulting
report they have compiled. However, we vehemently disagree that their
commission by the President restricted them from including any
consideration of the Yucca Mountain Project. The government's perception
that the people of Nevada oppose this project has been misled by
Nevada's media and bureaucracy for years. The answer to this should have
been a public referendum which was not favored by Nevada's political
establishment knowing that once the public were educated about the
facility their position may well have been of support.
Let's begin by responding to some of the media headlines concerning the industry response to the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future, (BRC).
BRC: U.S. Waste Management Program Broken: Situation Damaging, Costly & Urgent -- 'Clear Break' Needed From DOE
USNEF:
The BRC has provided yet another analysis of our nationwide position on
nuclear waste. We should note than every other country in the world
with spent nuclear fuel has made such an evaluation all coming to the
same conclusion of permanent deep geologic storage. On the whole as a
nation the "resolution" of this issue has been delayed once again as in
the past due to "bureaucracy" and politics and not to science. The
dialogue of politics has been the cause of both the cost and urgency of
the spent nuclear fuel cycle.
USNEF: The BRC has suggested that a "Clear Break"
is needed from the DOE. Some 27 other organizations, agencies and
stakeholders have "suggested" this transition for many years. The US
Nuclear Energy Foundation a non-profit 501 (c)(3) Nevada Corporation has
"proposed" the establishment of a (PPP) Public-Private Partnership
to transition the operation and management of the Nuclear Waste Policy
Act to a private entity. Naturally, our truthful "proposal" is falling
on deaf ears. Bureaucracy has its own definition of truth and industry
has its own definition of bureaucracy.
Direct statements from the BRC report & our response
"Establishing a new waste management organization -
Responsibility for implementing the nation's program for managing spent
nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive wastes is currently assigned to
the U.S. Department of Energy. Legislation will be needed to (1) move this responsibility to a new, independent, government-chartered corporation focused solely on carrying out that program".
USNEF:
Here, we challenge the reasoning to establish an independent
"government" chartered corporation focused solely on carrying out that
program. Government via the DOE has the "established track record" of
developing the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Project application. It has
been upwards of 30 years, it is not completed. How could America's
citizens believe another "government" chartered corporation tethered to
politics would complete the task? A "Clear Break" would require turning the construction project over to an "independent foundation and free enterprise.
And (2)
establish the appropriate oversight mechanisms. Ensuring access to
dedicated funding - Current federal budget rules and laws make it
impossible for the nuclear waste program to have assured access to the
fees being collected from nuclear utilities and ratepayers to finance
the commercial share of the waste program's expenses. We have
recommended a partial remedy that should be implemented promptly by the
Administration, USNEF: (which
administration, bureaucracy has proven their actions with
"administration reversals" of public policy in respect to the
"Congressionally approved" Yucca Mountain Project). working
with the relevant congressional committees and the Congressional Budget
Office. A long-term remedy requires legislation to provide access to
the Nuclear Waste Fund and fees independent of the annual appropriations
process but subject to rigorous independent financial and managerial
oversight.
USNEF:
We have addressed this in our "overview proposal" again, another
element of "government management" of the nuclear waste fund. In our
proposal, with the establishment of a Public/Private Partnership with the US Nuclear Energy Foundation,
USNEF would establish a board of directors of highly qualified
scientists and engineers to select contractors for certification,
construction and operation of the facility. This bill amendment would
include the transfer of the Nuclear Waste Fund to this Public/Private Partnership
for the construction of the Yucca Mountain Project according to the
current design specification of its NRC application with provisions for
retrieval of materials for future reprocessing development. This
amendment would have to guarantee a 100 year irrevocable
timeline for financial and operational management as such a facility is
not comparative to standard business amortization timelines. No entity
would consider managing this project with "unpredictable reversible
government overview".
American Nuclear Society statement on Blue Ribbon Commission report: . . . finally,
we observe that the Report does not comment on the much discussed
matter of the licensing of the Yucca Mountain repository. We are aware
that the Commission was expressly instructed not to consider this matter,
but also note that we have urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to
continue the licensing in order to obtain the benefit of the
considerable scientific research and solutions the application has
produced. USNEF: Even with conclusions
of this presidential commission, many of the original organizations and
agencies still believe that the public's investment in Yucca Mountain
study should be completed. The ANS (full) position on the Yucca Mountain repository, issued in February 2009, is found at http://www.new.ans.org/pi/ps/docs/ps80.pdf . Part of this 2009 statement; "Yucca
Mountain repository has been docketed by the NRC. The NRC now has
several years to review the application and to determine whether the DOE
has made an adequate case for the safety of Yucca Mountain as a repository. The ANS is confident that the NRC will make this determination fairly and only after thoroughly reviewing the scientific information in the application". We
know that the completion of the Yucca application was terminated by the
administration solely for political reasons. The interception of this
application by NRC chairman Jaczko has been purely political. This
demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that our citizens are not being
represented by our political leaders.
Exposure
of government activities such as this will only come from independent
organizations such as USNEF who have no tethers to any bureaucratic or
establishment entities. This is precisely the reason that our proposal
will be discounted for credibility because total independence is a
threat to the establishment. Any reversal of policy as it is today would
have to come from "individual personal commitment" from people within
the industry. Personal commitment based on ethical dedication verses the
fear of establishment retribution. This in itself generates a "short
list" as half-truths are the special of the day and our morality is an
economic commodity.
We
have many smart talented employees in our national laboratories,
science agencies and organizations. It is critical that the public and
our technology industries commit themselves to keeping science and
politics separated, if not, these issues are damaging to the
institutions and industry.
House Science Committee: 'American taxpayers deserve to see the results of their $15 billion investment in Yucca Mountain' You
can bet that USNEF is W A Y supportive of this recommendation. The
citizens of this country should DEMAND the completion of the Yucca
Mountain Application. If the majority of the public were "aware" of this
bureaucratic failure, they would require completion of the Yucca
application.
Energy and Commerce Committee, Chairmen Upton and Shimkus made the following statement: "In
the wake of the Obama administration's mismanagement of Yucca Mountain,
we agree with the commission that a new organizational structure must
be put into place to manage our country's nuclear waste. The current
administration has proved unwilling to carry out the law; it's time to
think about a new single-purpose entity to put our country's nuclear
future back on track. As recommended in the report, it is crucial this
authority have full access to the Nuclear Waste Fund. Recent House
efforts to fund Yucca Mountain have been repeatedly thwarted by Harry
Reid's Democratic Senate and the White House. We must decouple these
funds from political whims imposed by the budget cycle to ensure the
billions of dollars taxpayers and ratepayers have poured into Yucca
Mountain will not be squandered.
USNEF:This
statement again as proposed, keeps the NWPA management under government
jurisdiction. How can any logical person, scientist, engineer, nuclear
company etc. accept "appointment" of another "government" chartered corporation tethered to politics? TRUTH be known, this is NOT a "Clear Break"! Please America; stakeholders, etc., help us transition the NWPA to a "Clear Break" non-government PPP entity.
Exercise your "individual rights" to challenge TRUTH. Do not discredit
our proposal based on credibility, size or education. We have spelled
out a truthful manageable outline how to construct, manage and fulfill
completion of the NWPA task. Our world needs to bridge the gap between
visionary entrepreneurial dedication and academia. Steve Jobs and Bill
Gates would not qualify for about 80% of the job postings for
Administrative Management, without college degrees. Their PhD's were in
assembling the talent and administering the process of their companies.
PhD's are a measure of specialty in an educational focus, not a measure
of overall intelligence. We don't have to accept this but, "Think About
It".
House Energy Committee: 'Yucca Mountain remains the most shovel-ready, thoroughly studied option' - YES IT DOES, period finish!
Play and Pay as you go: We
need to present the Yucca Mountain Project as a "modular nuclear
technology proposal". 25+ years ago they started Yucca, drilled the
entire bore hole for enough side drifts to store our 66,000 tons. Since
"starting" science has improved on our reprocessing technology,
government delays by indecision. The technology of science outdating
government policy will never cease. Our delay in reprocessing is because
"they" calculate that a "commercial size" reprocessing facility to
process 66,000 tons will require a 30 billion dollar facility
investment. The value of 66,000 reprocessed is only about 12 billion,
doesn't pay for the whole investment. The economics of nuclear
technology must be "amortized" on 60-100 year timelines.
We must "present" the Yucca Project on the basis of "incremental modular design stages".
Design the reprocessing facility as self-contained "modules" that can
expand by 1, 2, 3 modules at a time. As the modules process startup
amounts they start generating startup cash flow. As the remaining
permanent storage is needed, we build the side drift bore holes for the
permanent casks. It gives the project an opportunity to calculate
operations during the build without the entire capital requirements at
the start. Time allows for productive redundancy or interactive modification as technology advances.
Operational benefits: 1) Government doesn't have to face a 100 billion dollar startup. 2)
Contractors can participate in manageable instead of extraordinary bid
processes providing opportunity for mid-range contractors verses the
behemoths. 3) As reprocessing technology advances the future "modules" and borehole designs can be modified for the science at hand. 4)
When IV or V generation reactors completely close the spent fuel cycle
further expansion of a repository may no longer be needed.
Unless we begin to correct bureaucratic and corporate truth and morals, humanity will continue to decline.
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