Science and Policy Clash at Yucca Mountain

The Environmental Protection Agency9s (EPA9s) draft standards for protecting groundwater at Yucca Mountain, the proposed repository in Nevada for the nation9s highly radioactive wastes from nuclear power plants and national defense activities, are drawing fire from scientific groups, including a panel of the National Academy of Sciences. The academy9s Board on Radioactive Waste Management has argued that, among other problems, EPA9s supporting data were out of date and it was needlessly duplicating the protection of human health by proposing two sets of standards, one covering all possible ways humans could be exposed to radiation and the other focusing on groundwater.