U.S. Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA, pictured at left), ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today reminded his Republican colleagues that the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, and his Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, cancelled the proposed high-level radioactive waste dump targeted at Yucca Mountain. Such basic clarification was necessary, as House Republicans were continuing their pro-Yucca dump witch hunt, attempting to scapegoat U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jaczko for his actions to phase out NRC's Yucca regulatory activities. Waxman spoke at an Environment and the Economy subcommittee hearing chaired by Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), a longtime champion of the nuclear power industry from the state with more high-level radioactive waste than any other. "Nuclear Illinois" is the most nuclear powered state in the country, with 11 still operating reactors, 3 closed reactors, and even an away-from-reactor high-level radioactive waste storage pool. The G.E.-Morris "independent spent fuel storage installation" would have been a reprocessing facility save for its major design and construction flaws, as well as bipartisan presidential policy set by Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter banning reprocessing due to its inherent nuclear weapons proliferation risks. Multiple Republican Congressman lined up to sully NRC Chairman Jaczko's reputation, even hinting that he had broken the law. But an NRC Office of Inspector General report, as reported by the Las Vegas Review Journal, has cleared NRC Chairman Jaczko of any legal wrongdoing, a conclusion re-emphasized by subcommittee ranking Democrat Gene Green of Texas. Ms. Haney, NRC director of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards, also testified that Jaczko had acted within his authority and powers as NRC Chairman. Despite calls by Republican Congressmen to resign over the matter, Jaczko has responded that he serves at the pleasure of President Obama, which he will continue to do until directed otherwise. Rep. Ed Markey from Massachusetts, a senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has said that when President Obama and Energy Secretary Chu decided to cancel the Yucca dump, Jaczko "did what any permitting office would do when a building plan is canceled. He stopped spending money processing the permit."
AP published an article based on the NRC staffpersons' prepared remarks for the House committee. The article reports that a senior NRC staff person on the Yucca Mountain review, Aby Mohseni, "just last week took the rare step of appealing a decision to the commission," that senior NRC leadership, especially Chairman Jaczko, was shutting down a process that should continue, and withholding analyses that should be made public. Mohseni was quoted as saying "It is becoming a little more obvious to all the staff here that things are not right...It has been a struggle for me to find a way to bring light on this issue so that at some point we will get this agency back on track to where it needs to be. Once politics penetrates the barrier into staff activities, we will quickly lose credibility with the public." But what about an NRC "contrarian" like Dr. Ross Landsman, who worked within NRC's system for decades to warn that dry cask storage of high-level radioactive waste at Palisades on the Lake Michigan shoreline violated NRC earthquake safety regulations? His warnings have been ignored by NRC since 1994, putting the drinking water supply for 40 million people at risk. If only his dispute with senior NRC leadership had gotten the honor and attention of a full congressional hearing, and Associated Press coverage. And is there nothing "political" about NRC's virtual rubberstamp of every nuclear proposal that comes before it -- such as 68 of 68 license extensions at dangerously degraded old reactors? Fortunately, AP did investigate that issue -- publishing a four part series last week on aging nukes.
admin