Allen Benson
U.S. Department of Energy
Yucca Mountain Project Office

Allen Benson is the Director of Public Relations and Community Outreach with the Department of Energy office supporting the Yucca Mountain Project (YMP). YMP is the study authorized by Congress to determine if a deep underground location at a spot 100 miles north of Las Vegas would serve as a scientifically sound permanent storage site for the nation's nuclear waste.

The interview was conducted by program Producer Ken Verdoia in the Department of Energy's Las Vegas office.

[Editors Note: At the time of this interview (February 2001) the Department of Energy had not formally issued its certification report on Yucca Mountain. That certification was formally delivered in May 2001. Mr. Benson's references to "pending" reports are, therefore, dated. However, they serve to illuminate how sharply divided people are over a permanent repository in Nevada.]

Ken Verdoia: Mr. Benson. As an overview, in the plainest English possible, just what is the Department of Energy doing at Yucca Mountain?

Allen Benson: In simplest terms, we are studying Yucca Mountain to determine whether or not it is a suitable, safe location to permanently dispose of the nation's commercial high level waste and spent nuclear fuel. Now, why are we there? We're there because Congress has directed that we're there. Back in the 1950s, the U.S. government encouraged utilities to generate electricity using nuclear power. Cheap, domestic supply, no emissions. And the utilities did that. The quid pro quo was that the government would take the title and responsibility for disposing of the spent fuel. So although there would be no smokestack emissions, there would be spent fuel.

The government looked around the country, various locations, and in 1982 this culminated in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which directed the U.S. Department of Energy to find a suitable location. Nine sites were named. That was winnowed down to five, then three and in 1987 Congress directed that the Department of Energy to only study Yucca Mountain. So that's what we're doing. Since 1987, we've been conducting a site characterization program, at Yucca Mountain, to determine whether or not it is a suitable site to safely dispose of this material. That's what we're doing.

Verdoia: It was expressed to us yesterday that Yucca Mountain may be the most intensely studied piece of earth, if not in this nation, perhaps the entire planet. What justifies such an assessment?

Benson: It probably is the most intensely studied piece of rock any place in the world. We've spent, out there, about three and a half billion dollars since the Nuclear Waste Policy Act was enacted. That's a lot of money. And by the way, just to give you some information on how it's paid for, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act established what's called the Nuclear Waste Fund.

Those utilities which generate electricity using nuclear power, pay milage, a fee, one tenth of one cent per kilowatt hour into this fund which is invested by law, required by law to be invested in U.S. Treasury Securities. Okay. In addition to that, because the repository will also host disposal, permanently, some defense military waste, there are some tax dollars also allocated. But the bulk of the funding, 90% of the funding, will come from the Nuclear Waste Fund.

Verdoia: I'll ask you a simple question. Why is it important to be engaged in this process and on one hand, the simple response would be because Congress told us to do it. But it seems to me there's a greater issue at work.

Benson: There is. Twenty percent of our electricity comes from nuclear energy. That's a huge amount of electricity. We are engaged in a debate, in this country and in fact around the world, over the continued use of nuclear power to generate electricity. And there are many people of good will, on both sides of the issues, who are intense in their views. There are those who fear nuclear power for whatever reason. A lot of people have the image of nuclear as a military weapon and what that can do. But there are those who also recognize that nuclear power is a reliable, safe and efficient source to generate electricity.

You see a situation right now in California, possibly with insufficient supplies or what have you. This country is going to have to make some decisions and whether or not we're going to be able to continue generating electricity. One of the things which people talk about is what you get from nuclear. The spent fuel and the dangers. There's no free lunch here. You're either going to have smokestack emissions or you're going to have spent fuel. Okay? And that's something this country's going to have to grapple with. Where do we want to go with that kind of thing?

We have been handling nuclear materials in this country, transporting it, for fifty years now. The record is pretty good. It's outstanding in fact. Okay. We know how to transport the material. We've been doing it safely and we're confident that if Yucca Mountain is selected as a site that we will be able to protect public health and safety. And let me point out, it's not a question of taking our word for it, we don't ask people to take our word for anything. We're going to have to be able to demonstrate that we can protect public health and safety if this repository goes forward.