Sisyphus and Yucca

By Brian Schimmoller, Contributing Editor

Greek mythology seems to have a story for just about every challenging situation in life. Early this year, the potential resurrection of Yucca Mountain got me to thinking about the Greek myth about Sisyphus. As you may recall from your high school Greek mythology lessons, Sisyphus was a conniving king who ended up condemned by the gods to the underworld, where he spent eternity rolling a boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down when he reached the top.

Over time, the adjective “Sisyphean” has come to refer to actions that are difficult and ultimately futile. That’s the way I’ve come to feel about Yucca Mountain.

When the Trump administration released its budget request to Congress earlier this year, it included money for the Department of Energy to resume efforts to relicense Yucca Mountain for high-level waste disposal. The earmark received support from the House, but was removed from the omnibus budget bill that ultimately passed. The ongoing and seemingly endless debate around this issue once again highlights how political Yucca Mountain has become.

The state of Nevada is clearly gearing up for a fight. Most of its political leaders — the governor, both U.S. Senators (one Democrat, one Republican), and three of the four U.S. Representatives — are on record as opposing any plan to move the Yucca Mountain repository out of mothballs. A legal defense fund has been replenished. Nevada’s Board of Examiners — a stage entity that reviews expenses authorized by the state legislature — approved a $5.1 million contract in February with an outside legal team to support the state in opposing efforts to resurrect Yucca Mountain.

Moreover, opposition to Yucca Mountain has become something of a political litmus test in Nevada, akin to the support expected from Midwest politicians for ethanol legislation. Political survival essentially depends on it.

The front page of Congresswoman Dana Titus’ web site prominently displays a photo of Yucca Mountain with a statement affirming her decades-long opposition. Congresswoman Jacky Rosen has done her one better, introducing a bill in late April titled the “Jobs, Not Waste Act.” The name says it all. The bill would prohibit the Secretary of Energy from taking any action relating to Yucca Mountain until the Office of Management and Budget conducts a study on the economic viability and job-creating benefits of alternative uses of Yucca Mountain.

Congressman Mark Amodei is one of the few public officials in Nevada who has expressed a willingness to consider moving forward with Yucca Mountain. In return for waste disposal in Nevada, he wants funding for infrastructure projects and more research into the recycling of nuclear waste.

The issue has also wormed its way into the Nevada governor’s race. The current governor, Brian Sandoval, is term limited, but the two leading Republican challengers — Attorney General Adam Laxalt and Las Vegas businessman Danny Tarkanian — have taken decidedly opposite sides on the issue. Laxalt squarely supports continued efforts to oppose Yucca Mountain, promising to “battle the poster-child for federal overreach — a battle over an unwanted nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in our beloved Nevada.”

“The Trump Administration recognizes how important Yucca Mountain is to Nevada and America.”

Tarkanian sees Yucca Mountain as a job creator, a significant tax base, and as an opportunity for Nevada to become a technological leader in nuclear fuel reprocessing. “In pushing to revive the project, the Trump administration recognizes how important Yucca Mountain is to Nevada and America,” Tarkanian said.

I am not going to try to summarize the billions of dollars of technical analysis and scientific research that has gone into characterizing Yucca Mountain as a viable repository for used nuclear fuel. That would be Sisyphean. To stick to the political flavor of this column, though, let me call on Nye County Commission Chairman Dan Schinofen, in whose county Yucca Mountain sits. As reported in an online article in The Spectrum by Lucas Thomas, Schinofen would like to see a more constructive dialogue around Yucca Mountain: “As far as the safety goes, the safety evaluation reports, the reports to the NRC staff, it said the science was sound. I really think they’re preferring political science over nuclear science. I respect we can have a difference of opinion, but we can’t have different facts. And the facts that are in evidence now show that it can be operated and constructed safely.”

Unfortunately, in today’s political climate, it seems like we can have different facts. So what’s my prediction on Yucca Mountain? Not gonna happen. Too much local opposition, not enough federal leadership. So we’ll kick the can down the road again on high-level waste disposal.

Wait…maybe there is another option. Remember the Greek maiden-turned-monster Medussa, she with the snakes for hair? Maybe she can just turn the waste to stone.