Washington (Platts)--4Dec2008

The state of Nevada plans to file 250 contentions opposing the
licensing of a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, an attorney for the
state said December 4.
Martin Malsch told a National Academy of Sciences board that the
contentions will include challenges to the completeness of the respository
design submitted to NRC in June. Some also will challenge DOE's reliance on
titanium drip shields installed over the waste packages to meet regulatory
requirements on radiation releases at the site, he said. The shields, which
DOE plans to install after the waste packages are moved into repository
tunnels, are to protect the waste packages by preventing water from dripping
on them and blunting any impact from falling rocks. However, Malsch said a
repository at Yucca Mountain would not meet regulatory requirements if the
drip shields are not installed as planned or if they are installed improperly.
The deadline for submitting contentions to NRC is December 22.
Contentions filed by Nevada alone will surpass the previous record of 138
contentions filed in an NRC licensing proceeding. That proceeding involved an
away-from-reactor spent fuel storage facility in Utah that would have used
off-the-shelf dry storage technologies.