Uncertainty Underground: Yucca Mountain And the Nation's High-level Nuclear Waste

by Allison M. MacFarlane (Editor)

Despite approval by Congress and the Bush administration and over seven billion dollars already spent, the Yucca Mountain, Nevada, site for disposal of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel is not yet in operation. The reasons for the delay lie not only in citizen and activist opposition to the project but also in the numerous scientific and technical issues that remain unresolved. Although many scientists favor geologic disposal of high-level nuclear waste, there are substantial unknowns in projecting the performance of a site over the tens to hundreds of thousands of years that may be required by Environmental Protection Agency standards. Uncertainty Underground is the first effort to review the uncertainties in the analysis of the long-term performance of the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. The book does not pass judgment on the suitability of the site but provides reliable science-based information to support open debate and inquiry into its safety.

Experts from the geosciences, industry, and government review different aspects of the repository system, focusing on the uncertainties inherent in each. After an overview of the historical and regulatory context, the contributors investigate external factors (including climate change and volcanic activity) that could affect repository performance and then turn to topics concerning the repository itself. These include hydrologic issues, the geological conditions with which the nuclear waste in the repository would interact, and the predicted behavior of the different kinds of waste and waste package materials. Uncertainty Underground succeeds in making these important technical issues understandable to a wide audience, including policymakers and the general public.

431 pages, Hardcover

First published April 21, 2006

Reviews

[Gavin Ridley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a grad student in nuclear engineering and was hoping to understand more science about the repository. Although there are definitely a few things to be learned from the mish-mash of articles this book presents, there is not a consistent focus between them, nor is there a consistent viewpoint presented. Some of the authors clearly believe there is in fact not a tremendous amount of uncertainty about the piece of the physics of Yucca Mountain they studied. Others outright called out DOE analyses of the cite as blatantly incorrect.

Well, that's not really a study of uncertainty underground. Some authors definitely let their political viewpoints leak into what is supposed to be a subjective investigation of the site. Although, these leanings are likely due to the already-politicized DOE studies on the site, particularly ones on groundwater flow.

Luckily, the book has a massive collection of references to DOE reports and literature on the Yucca site, so it's certainly a good jumping off point to understanding Yucca in-depth. The book also generally summarizes the pieces of science that feed into the repository evaluation well. Strangely enough, at the end, MacFarlane essentially states that we should give up on trusting the computer models developed by scientists and instead make a decision by comparing the characteristics of Yucca to other worldwide planned nuclear waste repositories.

I don't think her position on that is well-motivated considering that many of the authors professed evidence which show that the general physics of the repository is very well-understood, it's just that there are a few pieces missing here and there which are uncertain such as corrosion of waste packages over long time scales. So, I would give this three stars if it weren't for MacFarlane's (in my view) somewhat badly reasoned opinion at the end of the book.

At the end of it, I feel like there is something missing on my knowledge of the site. Maybe that's the point of the book.

[Flannery · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of articles (around 10-15 pages each) related to the siting of a geologic repository for the nation's spent nuclear fuel. I read most (skimmed the rest) of the articles whilst writing a paper on legal issues surrounding the interim storage of SNF. This work definitely succeeds in showing the positives and negatives of a high-level waste repository at Yucca Mountain and it is particularly applicable to read it now, when the Obama administration is attempting to block the funding for continued work at the site.

Though I am still undecided about what the ultimate solution should be for our humongous storage problem, this problem won't be going away anytime soon. I mean, Yucca Mountain was supposed to open in 1998 and last time I checked it was/is 2010. I don't see the relevance of this book dissipating in the near future.

[Peggiethorn]

this is a book of scholarly essays. Very useful if you are looking at science, sound science and the DOE's investigation of Yucca Mountain.