Private Fuel Storage LLC (PFS) was a nuclear power industry consortium organized to manage spent nuclear fuel based in La Crosse, Wisconsin . The plan was to store it above-ground in dry casks on the Goshute 's Skull Valley Indian Reservation , Tooele County, Utah . It was withdrawn in 2012.
118-489: The Department of Energy took responsibility for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA). A temporary Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) program was expected to be used alongside a geological storage (permanent) program. Eventually the latter focused on Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository , and MRS was evaluated on many different sites. Department of Energy (DOE)
236-486: A renewables mix of 23%. By 2016, 28.2% of SCE's power sources were renewable. In 2017, the company opened two new hybrid electric gas turbine (EGT) units called peaker plants, that combine gas turbines and storage batteries at the same site. Each plant delivers around 50-megawatts; the batteries can provide 10-megawatts and four megawatt-hours of power. Both the turbines and the batteries are designed and manufactured by General Electric’s Power Division . The plant runs
354-574: A ripeness threshold. They proceeded to appeal BIA's approval of the lease agreement in September 2000 and were joined by other parties including the Ohngo Gaudedah Devia Awareness (OGDA or OGD) and the State of Utah. This was then filed as a lawsuit on 2 May 2001, over the legality of the 1997 lease agreement, stating the "Bear regime" (Leon and his uncle Lawrence) had been recalled in 1994 over
472-683: A shooting occurred when an employee of Southern California Edison opened fire at an office building in Irwindale . Southern California Edison allows its customer to obtain their electricity entirely from renewable sources by subscribing to a "green rate". In 2006, Southern California Edison planned to secure 1,500 megawatts or more of power generated from new projects to be built in the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm area. The contract, which more than doubles SCE's wind energy portfolio, envisions more than 50 square miles (130 km ) of wind parks in
590-494: A 222-page "partial initial decision" regarding "credible accidents", primarily from a military aircraft accident, discussing the probability of a hypothetical F-16 crash at the site. Topics such as nose angle, lookdown angle, and zoom climbs were evaluated. The Skull Valley corridor was used for approximately 7000 sorties per year during training (day and night, as low as 100 feet (30 m) above ground level). NRC specifically didn't evaluate intentional terrorist aircraft crashes,
708-400: A Japanese Yen currency put option in 1998. In 2005, Bear pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was required to pay $ 31,000 to the tribe account and $ 13,000 in federal taxes. Sammy Blackbear, an attorney, and two other tribe members were charged with similar counts of theft after a soft coup in 2001 where they withdrew over $ 45,000 in tribal funds and transferred over $ 400,000 in funds to
826-740: A concert in Salt Lake City to raise awareness to the project. The Indigo Girls, Ani DiFranco , Winona LaDuke , James Cromwell , Rep. Dennis Kucinich , Public Interest Research Group 's Navin Nayak , and Margene Bullcreek also held a press briefing in Washington DC on July 25, 2005. Aside from the Goshutes in Utah, other Utah residents and NRC acknowledged the disproportionate effects of US nuclear weapon testing on Utah residents (see Downwinders ), especially after
944-472: A contract with Solar Millennium to purchase solar thermal power up to 726 MW. Southern California Edison also entered into a contract with Stirling Energy Systems to buy electricity from a 500 megawatt, 4,600 acre (19 km ), solar power plant which was due to open in 2009. The purchase was canceled in late 2010, as changes in technology reduced the cost of photovoltaic-based solar power to below that of solar Stirling generated power. This would have been
1062-567: A document. In March 1999, eighteen tribe members including Sammy Blackbear ( ( 1964-04-18 ) April 18, 1964 (age 60) ) and Margene Bullcreek sued BIA over the legality of the 1997 lease agreement, which they BIA approved (per the Indian Long-Term Leasing Act ) in three days, an unusually prompt event. The Blackbear/Bullcreek suit was dismissed in February 2000 without prejudice (and upheld in an April 2000 appeal) as it had not met
1180-595: A federal court ruled that the Department of Energy must stop collecting fees for nuclear waste disposal until provisions are made to collect nuclear waste. In December 1987, Congress amended the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to designate Yucca Mountain , Nevada, as the only site to be characterized as a permanent repository for all of the nation's nuclear waste. The plan was added to the fiscal 1988 budget reconciliation bill signed on December 22, 1987. Working under
1298-497: A federal forum". Still, Price-Anderson had many unanswered questions and grey areas for the project. Leon D. Bear ( ( 1956-02-14 ) February 14, 1956 (age 68) ), identified as chairman of the Goshutes by PFS, had pushed for the project, describing it as appropriate given the surrounding toxic sites that already existed. Mary Allen, a Goshute executive committee member, doubted the tribe could handle it, as did tribe member Margene Bullcreek, who said about $ 300,000 had been granted to
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#17330926231431416-725: A few thousand years. The most troublesome transuranic elements in spent fuel are Np-237 (half-life two million years) and Pu-239 (half-life 24,000 years). Most existing nuclear waste came from production of nuclear weapons . About 77 million gallons of military nuclear waste in liquid form was stored in steel tanks, mostly in South Carolina , Washington , and Idaho . In the private sector, 82 nuclear plants operating in 1982 used uranium fuel to produce electricity. Highly radioactive spent fuel rods were stored in pools of water at reactor sites, but many utilities were running out of storage space. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 created
1534-572: A lawsuit against DOI for blocking the plan through the Administrative Procedure Act . The lawsuit indicated the PFS contract was worth $ 200,000 per year in the construction phase, $ 1 million per year after opening, plus profit sharing . Since DOI's objection caused the cancellation, the suit was asking for damages as well as overturning their decision. The case was decided in July 2010, overturning both
1652-588: A modeled lifetime of 12,000 to over 100,000 years and it is assumed they will fail in about two million years. A 1983 review of the Swedish radioactive waste disposal program by the National Academy of Sciences found that country's estimate of about one million years being necessary for waste isolation "fully justified." The Nuclear Waste Policy Act did not require anything approaching this standard for permanent deep-geologic disposal of high-level radioactive waste in
1770-404: A new issue at the time, nor did they evaluate the damage that might occur to the nuclear casks- instead, they simply discussed the probability of a crash. The report remarked that it was the 55th decision related to the PFS application, that the transcript of the topic's 2002 hearings was 11,000 pages, 475 exhibits were shown, and the post-trial briefs covered another 2200 pages. The metric adopted
1888-520: A new strategy toward nuclear waste disposal." On March 5, 2009, Energy Secretary Steven Chu told a Senate hearing the Yucca Mountain site is no longer viewed as an option for storing reactor waste. In Obama's 2011 budget proposal released February 1, all funding for nuclear waste disposal was zeroed out for the next ten years and it proposed to dissolve the Office of Civilian Waste Management required by
2006-544: A number of resources and a rate designed specifically for electric vehicle users. As of July 2018, Southern California Edison planned to add thousands of new charging stations for passenger electric vehicles (EV). This addition is a component of the company's "Charge Ready" program, a pilot program with the aim of increasing the availability of charging ports for EVs. Since 2016, Southern California Edison has installed 1,000 charging stations throughout their Southern and Central California service area. The company also runs
2124-449: A permanent radioactive waste repository has yet been discovered that has been stable for so long a period. Because some radioactive species have half-lives longer than one million years, even very low container leakage and radionuclide migration rates must be taken into account. Moreover, it may require more than one half-life until some nuclear waste loses enough radioactivity so that it is no longer lethal to humans. Waste containers have
2242-570: A permanent waste repository went into operation. Costs of temporary storage would be paid by fees collected from electric utilities using the storage. The Act required the Secretary of Energy to report to Congress by June 1, 1985, on the need for and feasibility of a monitored retrievable storage facility (MRS) and specified that the report was to include five different combinations of proposed sites and facility designs, involving at least three different locations. Environmental assessments were required for
2360-453: A plane crash was considered credible (needing to be evaluated) rather than incredible (so unlikely that it does not need to be evaluated) as PFS claimed. NRC staff also calculated the probability of jettisoned ordnance (before or during an aircraft emergency) to be 2.11*10^-7. While outside the metric, it is an added factor to the overall risk, so it was considered worthy of consideration. NRC ruled against PFS for this, though PFS's Scott Northard
2478-651: A project worth approximately $ 3 billion and was technically temporary storage. Some of the Goshutes were in favor of the project for the economic boost, including Danny Quintana, a non-Indian attorney representing the tribe in the project, who described the tribe as "very astute in terms of business deals" in 1995. It was also opposed by others in the tribe and by many outside groups, such as Senators Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett , and House Representatives Rob Bishop , Chris Cannon , James V. Hansen , Jim Matheson , Utah governors Mike Leavitt (who famously said "over my dead body" to
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#17330926231432596-459: A rebate program for electric vehicle purchases. Southern California Edison has a long history of research in the energy arena. Often this includes working with other companies and government entities. One example is the SOLARII feasibility generator, which was a solar-powered energy plant that could produce electricity 24 hours a day. This was done by heating molten salts that would hold the heat during
2714-461: A repository. Generators and owners of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste were required to pay the costs of disposal of such radioactive materials. The waste program, which was expected to cost billions of dollars, would be funded through a fee paid by electric utilities on nuclear-generated electricity. An Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management was established in the DOE to implement
2832-411: A safe location. The Act required DOE to consult closely throughout the site selection process with states or Indian tribes that might be affected by the location of a waste facility, and allowed a state (governor or legislature) or Indian tribe to veto a federal decision to place within its borders a waste repository or temporary storage facility holding 300 tons or more of spent fuel, but provided that
2950-654: A second repository. A full environmental impact statement was required for any site recommended to the President. Locations considered to be leading contenders for a permanent repository were basalt formations at the government's Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington, volcanic tuff formations at its Nevada nuclear test site, and several salt formations in Utah, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Salt and granite formations in other states from Maine to Georgia had also been surveyed, but not evaluated in great detail. The President
3068-413: A series of laws to require a $ 5 million nonrefundable application fee, restrict transportation of nuclear waste, add a 75% tax on it, requiring $ 150 billion in upfront fees, and similar maneuvers. Utah also sued PFS for concerns including the Yucca Mountain storage project, risks from stray bombs dropped at the nearby Utah Test and Training Range , credible risk of an aviation crash and risks of accidents at
3186-406: A simple protest", and that Utah doesn't want outside protesters coming in. Advocates, however, pointed to the 2000-2001 California rolling power blackouts as rationale for the continued need of nuclear power. By the end of 2002 it was clear Enron 's market manipulation was a key factor, and CEO Kenneth Lay was convicted on multiple charges in 2006 related to the events. In December 2001, after
3304-400: A spectrum of assimilation versus traditionalism, and moral purity.] The groundwork from PFS allowed NRC to produce a generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) in 2014, NUREG-1751, on siting ISFSIs and dry cask transfer systems (DTS, not needing a spent fuel pool ), including environmental justice impacts. Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982
3422-711: A timetable and procedure for establishing a permanent, underground repository for high-level radioactive waste by the mid-1990s, and provided for some temporary federal storage of waste, including spent fuel from civilian nuclear reactors . State governments were authorized to veto a national government decision to place a waste repository within their borders, and the veto would stand unless both houses of Congress voted to override it. The Act also called for developing plans by 1985 to build monitored retrievable storage (MRS) facilities, where wastes could be kept for 50 to 100 years or more and then be removed for permanent disposal or for reprocessing. Congress assigned responsibility to
3540-770: A vast complex of reservoirs to be constructed in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of central California. Huntington founded Pacific Light and Power, one of the roughly two dozen companies he controlled at the time, to execute what would eventually become one of the largest hydropower systems in the United States, the Big Creek Hydroelectric Project . Pacific Light and Power was one of the predecessor companies to SCE, along with Edison Electric, Mt. Whitney Power & Electric Co., California Electric Power Co., Southern California Power Co., and others. In 2011,
3658-713: A waste facility within their borders. The Nuclear Waste Fund previously received $ 750 million in fee revenues each year and had an unspent balance of $ 44.5 billion as of the end of FY2017. However (according to the Draft Report by the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future ), actions by both Congress and the Executive Branch have made the money in the fund effectively inaccessible to serving its original purpose. The commission made several recommendations on how this situation may be corrected. In late 2013,
Private Fuel Storage - Misplaced Pages Continue
3776-704: Is a United States federal law which established a comprehensive national program for the safe, permanent disposal of highly radioactive wastes . During the first 40 years that nuclear waste was being created in the United States , no legislation was enacted to manage its disposal. Nuclear waste, some of which remains radioactive with a half-life of more than one million years, was kept in various types of temporary storage. Of particular concern during nuclear waste disposal are two long-lived fission products, Tc-99 (half-life 220,000 years) and I-129 (half-life 17 million years), which dominate spent fuel radioactivity after
3894-411: Is any hydraulic pressure from groundwater infiltration into disturbed underground geologic structures. Historical attempts to seal smaller bore holes created during exploration for oil, gas, and water are notorious for their high failure rates, often in periods less than 50 years. Southern California Edison Southern California Edison ( SCE ), the largest subsidiary of Edison International ,
4012-594: Is linked to other California ISO resources by the Path 26 transmission lines that generally follow Interstate 5 over Tejon Pass . The interconnection takes place at a large substation at Buttonwillow . CAISO's and WAPA 's Path 15 and Path 66 , respectively, from Buttonwillow north eventually connect to BPA 's grid in the Pacific Northwest . There are several other interconnections with local and out-of-state utilities, such as Path 46 . Southern California Edison has
4130-515: Is the primary electric utility company for much of Southern California . It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of approximately 50,000 square miles. SCE owns all of its electrical transmission facilities and equipment. Deregulation of California's electricity market in the late 1990s forced the company to sell many of its power plants, though some were probably sold by choice. SCE retained its hydroelectric plants, totaling about 1,200 MW, and its 75% share of
4248-568: Is very difficult to satisfy these requirements for the simple reason that we have had no practical experience with such a long term project. Moreover permanently guarded storage requires a society with unprecedented stability." Thus, Alfvén identified two fundamental prerequisites for effective management of high-level radioactive waste: (1) stable geological formations, and (2) stable human institutions over hundreds of thousands of years. However, no known human civilization has ever endured for so long. Moreover, no geologic formation of adequate size for
4366-554: The Cedar Mountain Wilderness (over 100,000 acres (40,000 ha)) and a moratorium on Bureau of Land Management on related land use planning. These actions were specifically to block a proposed rail spur that would have delivered casks to the PFS site, which would have crossed or impacted eight historic sites: the Hastings Cutoff , US Route 40 , Victory Highway ("old" and "new"), a Western Union telegraph line,
4484-463: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to site, construct, operate, and close a repository for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was directed to set public health and safety standards for releases of radioactive materials from a repository, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) was required to promulgate regulations governing construction, operation, and closure of
4602-715: The Western Pacific Railroad , and two roads. This was part of a Gov. Leavitt strategy of putting a "land moat" around Skull Valley. Since the rail spur was blocked through law and BIA Chad Calbert's Record of Decision (ROD), and BLM wasn't allowed to sign a MOA due to the moratorium, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation withdrew, as all concerns over the National Historic Preservation Act were rendered moot. Southern Company and Xcel Energy backed out of PFS by December 2005; Xcel had been
4720-474: The 1982 Act, DOE had narrowed down the search for the first nuclear-waste repository to three Western states: Nevada, Washington, and Texas. The amendment repealed provisions in the 1982 law calling for a second repository in the eastern United States. No one from Nevada participated on the House–Senate conference committee on reconciliation. The amendment explicitly named Yucca Mountain as the only site that DOE
4838-459: The 2,150-MW San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station . The plant is being decommissioned. In addition to its electric business, SCE operates the sole gas utility and water utility on Santa Catalina Island , under the names Catalina Island Gas Company and Catalina Island Water Company. The origins of the company lie with the grand scheme of business magnate Henry E. Huntington and hydraulic engineer John S. Eastwood , developed around 1908, for
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4956-521: The 9/11 attacks, the state of Utah filed contention RR, "Suicide Mission Terrorism and Sabotage". The commissioners invited parties to comment on the issue in February 2002, specifically asking "What is an agency's responsibility under NEPA to consider intentional malevolent acts, such as those directed at the United States on September 11, 2001? The parties should cite all relevant cases, legislative history or regulatory analysis." In 2003 NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board 's administrative judges posted
5074-522: The Act. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act required the Secretary of Energy to issue guidelines for selection of sites for construction of two permanent, underground nuclear waste repositories. DOE was to study five potential sites, and then recommend three to the President by January 1, 1985. Five additional sites were to be studied and three of them recommended to the president by July 1, 1989, as possible locations for
5192-530: The Calvert and Cason decisions, with the court explaining that their decision was "arbitrary and capricious" and an abuse of discretion. For instance, the environmental impact statement, filed well before 2001, did not include discussion of terrorist attacks like were seen in the 9/11 attacks, leading the judicial opinion to state "the DOI had an obligation to prepare an adequate [environmental impact statement", especially since
5310-460: The Goshute funds: nearly $ 130,000 from an economic development office and over $ 25,000 by double-dipping travel stipends. He was also charged with three counts of falsifying tax returns (from 2000 to 2002), which required enforcing an IRS summons. In an unrelated case, Bear and tribal businesses, Starlike Properties Inc. and Diversified Acquisition Star LLC, were also under investigation for tax fraud from
5428-487: The Larry Bear group. Weiss also argues that the rhetoric strategies and polarization makes social constructionism very applicable to the rhetorical themes and tactics. The harsh environment shaped much of the Goshute tribal identity, lacking sufficient resources to allow for a powerful central rule or sense of community. Arguments, or claims-making, is used to argue a viewpoint to gain the moral high ground. Common tactics in
5546-492: The Mescalero Utility Fuel Storage Initiative. This was controversial and opposed by many in the tribe as well as New Mexico's senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete V. Domenici . The Mescalero tribe voted against the $ 250 million deal in 1995, then proceeded into a second referendum and accusations of coercion and outside involvement, though the vote supposedly ended in PFS's favor, leading Tom Udall (then
5664-469: The NWPA. In late February 2010, multiple lawsuits were proposed and/or being filed in various federal courts across the country to contest the legality of Chu's direction to DOE to withdraw the license application. These lawsuits were evidently foreseen as eventually being necessary to enforce the NWPA because Section 119 of the NWPA provides for federal court interventions if the President, Secretary of Energy, or
5782-473: The New Mexico Attorney General) to state "It appears to me that the tribal leadership has strong-armed members to get this result", with allegations of job losses to opponents, intimidation through killing horses and dogs of a tribe member, and assaulting children. The agreement had a minority of tribal members on its board (4 from the tribe, 5 from PFS), and there was a possibility for the transfer
5900-471: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission fail to uphold the NWPA. Hannes Alfvén , Nobel laureate in physics, described the as-yet-unresolved dilemma of permanent radioactive waste disposal : "The problem is how to keep radioactive waste in storage until it decays after hundreds of thousands of years. The [geologic] deposit must be absolutely reliable as the quantities of poison are tremendous. It
6018-544: The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1987 and, after review, President George W. Bush submitted the recommendation to Congress for its approval. Nevada exercised its state veto in April 2002, but the veto was overridden by both houses of Congress by mid-July 2002. In 2004, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a challenge by Nevada, ruling that EPA's 10,000-year compliance period for isolation of radioactive waste
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#17330926231436136-423: The PFS argument excluded them from the narrative, and the community advocates eroded trust by referencing the downwinder damage and by eroding the motives of politicians and local opponents, while the opponents "won" through use of repetition more than accuracy. Tracylee Clarke also described the intra-tribe dynamic that led to lack of voice and access, shaping of the tribe's identity through the distorted narrative of
6254-465: The PFS corporations and other connected industry associations, identifying $ 14.4 million in direct lobbying expenses and $ 22.5 million in related associations in an 18-month period starting January 1999. They also identified nearly $ 5 million in campaign contributions from the groups during the same time period. The Sierra Club also opposed it. In October 2000, Bonnie Raitt and the Indigo Girls held
6372-1152: The SNF title to the tribe. The tribe broke off negotiations in 1996. Negotiations with the Goshute tribe were ongoing and became primary. Xcel/Northern claimed 33 companies were involved, but by 1995 there were only 10 companies, and when Private Fuel Storage was organized in 1996 the number was reduced to eight, being Xcel/Northern, Southern Nuclear , Genoa FuelTech , Southern California Edison , Entergy (via ConEd ), American Electric Power (via Indiana-Michigan Power), Florida Power and Light , and FirstEnergy . Boston Edison withdrew in 1997 after citizen objections, and Illinois Power sold its share to Florida Power in 2000. Wisconsin Electric and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) also withdrew. General Public Utilities had merged with Xcel Energy. The Private Fuel Storage project would have stored approximately 44,000 metric tons (43,000 long tons) of spent fuel in 4000 Holtec International dry casks on 98 acres (40 ha) of Goshute land. The fuel would have come from over 100 power plants in
6490-475: The SNF to be assumed by DOE until being taken to a permanent site, and with no permanent site even in a planning state, the risk of a private facility is substantially higher. In 2010-2011 the status of the project was described as "uncertain". PFS withdrew their application on December 20, 2012, which was signed by PFS's Chairman of the Board Robert M. Palmberg. It was estimated that $ 70 million had been spent on
6608-422: The State of Utah filed initial objections to the plan in 1997. Utah filed 68 out of the 160 total contentions. Utah contended that NRC does not have jurisdiction via the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), since it was for an intermediate offsite spent fuel storage facility (ISFSI), which was not explicitly discussed. This was rejected in 1998, siding with both NRC and PFS's arguments that precise enumeration
6726-561: The Tehachapi region, which is triple the size of any existing U.S. wind farm. In March 2008, Southern California Edison announced a $ 875 million project to build a network of 250 megawatts of photovoltaic solar power generation, making it the biggest solar cell project in the nation. The photovoltaic cells will cover 65,000,000 square feet (6,000,000 m ) of rooftops in southern California and will generate enough power to serve 162,000 homes. In 2009, Southern California Edison entered into
6844-642: The Tooele County area to other waste projects and incidents such as the Dugway sheep incident , where the accidental release of VX gas in Skull Valley killed 6000 sheep, which were buried on the Skull Valley Band's land with a financial settlement. Bayley Lopez of Nuclear Age Peace Foundation called the waste storage on Indian lands proposals "a form of economic racism akin to bribery". The project application
6962-505: The United States. U.S. Department of Energy guidelines for selecting locations for permanent deep-geologic high-level radioactive waste repositories required containment of waste within waste packages for only 300 years. A site would be disqualified from further consideration only if groundwater travel time from the "disturbed zone" of the underground facility to the "accessible environment" (atmosphere, land surface, surface water, oceans or lithosphere extending no more than 10 kilometers from
7080-659: The accusations of embezzlement, Vollmann noted the tribal leaders "are currently cooperating with a pending federal law enforcement investigation", but stated that wasn't under the ASLPB's purview. Leon Bear stated that disclosing revenues, including from PFS, and the allocation to members, "would violate tribal law and custom." Leon Bear was criminally indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2003 on two counts of thefts from Indian Tribal Organizations, one count of theft of programs receiving federal funds, over conversion and embezzlement of
7198-402: The battery first in a series of short bursts, saving gas usage for longer power demand. The combination of a 30-minute duration battery improves the environmental impact of the gas turbine. The SCE setup (the first of its kind) cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60%, reduced annual water usage by 2 million gallons and lowered the number of gas starts by 50%. Southern California Edison's power grid
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#17330926231437316-564: The chairman of the tribe but did not verify it. He recalled being at a General Council meeting of the tribe where Bullcreek "challenged Leon's role in leadership". Bear was the tribal secretary in 1990–1991; he was elected as chair in November 1995 and again in November 2000; his uncle, Lawrence Bear, was the previous chair. Bear presented the executed lease with PFS to the council. In Utah and OGD's complaints surrounding environmental justice issues under Pres. Clinton's Executive Order 12898, in 2002
7434-621: The committee to Japan's Fugen nuclear plant and Tōkai reprocessing facility , France's La Hague reprocessing facility , UK's Sellafield power/reprocessing/storage facility, and Sweden's Clab storage facility. After ONWN wound down, MRS efforts were picked up by a private consortium, Private Fuel Storage, LLC, led by Xcel Energy (via Northern States Power Company 's Jim Howard and the "locally visible and vocal" engineer, Scott Northard) to store 30,000 metric tons (30,000 long tons) on 450 acres (180 ha) of Mescalero land in New Mexico, called
7552-463: The communication dynamics in charge of agents, agency, and purpose. For instance, she explained the pro-PFS tribal group (Larry Bear) as fitting a narrative frame of self-determinism , "The Goshutes (agent) have made an educated decision (agency) about this facility and we feel it is in our best interest to go forward with the project. It benefits ourselves and the nation (purpose). Those who oppose us do so out of ignorance and prejudice." The PFS argument
7670-578: The construction of a MRS facility at the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Following considerable public pressure and threat of veto by the Governor of Tennessee, the 1987 amendments to the NWPA "annulled and revoked" MRS plans for all of the proposed sites. There are carefully selected geological locations that build places specifically for disposing nuclear waste in
7788-520: The dangers of radiation, for example, are culturally dependent, with some tribes (such as the Paiutes) assigning a heavy spiritual cost to radioactivity. Grassroots activism in such communities is more similar to civil rights movements than environmental movements. Peeples stated that the combination of these three disparate approaches was "particularly problematic" based on the issue. While the Goshutes tried to establish trust in their decisionmaking abilities,
7906-430: The day and would be used to generate power at night. Dr. John Jurewitz served as Director of Regulatory Policy for Southern California Edison for 15 years until his retirement in July 2007. His major areas of research are in oil, gas, and electricity policy and greenhouse gas regulation. He has testified and participated in government-sponsored proceedings addressing electric industry restructuring and energy policy at
8024-428: The dispute was frame and reframe an opposing point of view and react to that framing, and to vilify the opposition by examining motives and by exaggerating imperfections. Proponents gave rhetorical trust to scientists and tribal leadership, while distrusting the state of Utah and its actors (such as Gov. Leavitt). Expert proponents described their years of experience and awards won (such as six Nobel laureates who supported
8142-591: The falsified new tribal organization (with authorization from the Henry Clayton, the non-recognized Nato Indian nation 's self-described "residing judge of the First Federal District Court"), attempted to get $ 250,000 at a second branch, and attempted to withdraw $ 385,000 from another bank. In 2005, Sammy Blackbear pleaded guilty to the misuse of $ 1000 in tribal funds. After the Bear chaos, the tribe filed for
8260-767: The first commercial application of the dish stirling system . A different technology from the more familiar solar panel, the dish concentrates solar energy by the use of reflective surfaces and by the use of the Stirling heat engine to convert the heat into electricity. In 2014, Southern California Edison installed the Tehachapi Energy Storage Project , which is composed of more than 600,000 lithium-ion battery cells at Monolith Substation in Tehachapi, California in order to test storing power generated from an area that currently has 5,000 wind turbines. In 2014 SCE had
8378-846: The human environment. Current policy relinquishes control over radioactive materials to geohydrologic processes at repository closure. Existing models of these processes are empirically underdetermined, meaning there is not much evidence they are accurate. DOE guidelines contain no requirements for permanent offsite or onsite monitoring after closure. This may seem imprudent, considering repositories will contain millions of dollars worth of spent reactor fuel that might be reprocessed and used again either in reactors generating electricity, in weapons applications, or possibly in terrorist activities. Technology for permanently sealing large-bore-hole walls against water infiltration or fracture does not currently exist. Previous experiences sealing mine tunnels and shafts have not been entirely successful, especially where there
8496-453: The information "generally appears to be readily obtainable". While the Tribe and PFS had sent multiple letters offering to furnish more information to no avail, part of the denial was for lack of information. The ruling meant DOI was required to reconsider the application. Sen. Hatch and Utah's congressional delegation criticized the reopening, with Hatch calling it "a lawyer-employment plan funded by
8614-644: The intense fallout from the Upshot-Knothole Harry test, later nicknamed "Dirty Harry". This fallout led to substantial increases in cancer rates of southern Utah residents and even a Hollywood film crew making The Conqueror near St. George, Utah . John Wayne 's lung cancer in 1964 and 1979 stomach cancer and death are often linked to the Dirty Harry test; at least 91 of 220 people on the set were diagnosed or died from cancer, including Susan Hayward , Pedro Armendáriz , and Dick Powell . Residents also linked
8732-463: The lack of voice and access to the tribe and the shaping of the tribe's identity through the distorted narrative. In April 1999 the tribe passed a resolution stating that all tribal documents are confidential and proprietary to "protect the Band from outsiders". After this point the committee attendance (sign-in) sheet was a legal agreement, binding members to confidentiality. Some members refused to sign such
8850-450: The last holdout member of PFS". In March 2006 PFS's Parkyn celebrated the appeal, stating "Yes, there is hope for our future" to applause at an industry forum. TIME magazine stated the tribe was slated to get $ 100 million over 45 years from the project, but neither PFS's Sue Martin nor the band's Leon Bear would confirm that. Margene Bullcreek said she had still not seen the contract. The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future
8968-406: The law. Nuclear waste from defense activities was exempted from most provisions of the Act, which required that if military waste were put into a civilian repository, the government would pay its pro rata share of the cost of development, construction, and operation of the repository. The Act authorized impact assistance payments to states or Indian tribes to offset any costs resulting from location of
9086-428: The legitimacy of his leadership and claiming corruption, such as embezzlement and having bribed tribe members. Opponents also used charges of racism, especially in terms of environmental justice and environmental racism . Proponents, especially Leon Bear, used these same charges to state the band is not being allowed to profit from this storage, perpetuating racism through paternalism. Proponents also argued that Leavitt
9204-467: The licensing board ordered the Skull Valley Band to account for lease revenues and distribution to the Band, defining OGD as a minority subgroup. On behalf of the Band, attorney Tim Vollmann contended this violated tribal sovereignty and was intervening in "internal tribal governmental matters", also noting Utah's FOIA request to the DOI for the lease details was filled, with compensation amounts redacted as confidential proprietary information. While discussing
9322-478: The long-term custody problem. Pyroelectric refining, as perfected at EBR-II , separates essentially all actinides from fission products. U.S. DOE Research on pyroelectric refining and fast neutron reactors was stopped in 1994. Current repository closure plans require backfilling of waste disposal rooms, tunnels, and shafts with rubble from initial excavation and sealing openings at the surface, but do not require complete or perpetual isolation of radioactive waste from
9440-412: The majority shareholder. Florida Power & Light backed out a week later, and the remaining utilities stopped funding PFS. This withdrawal also allowed the full approval for the PFS project on February 21, 2006, as Materials License number SNM-2513, titled "License For Independent Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste", subject to DOI approval. DOI's James Cason formally rejected
9558-433: The national government to take ownership of all nuclear waste or spent fuel at the reactor site, transport it to the repository, and thereafter be responsible for its containment. The Act authorized DOE to provide up to 1,900 metric tons of temporary storage capacity for spent fuel from civilian nuclear reactors. It required that spent fuel in temporary storage facilities be moved to permanent storage within three years after
9676-546: The nearby Tekoi rocket facility. Of Utah's objections, Sue Martin of PFS said "it seems like this is a blatant attempt to divert the court's attention", and Deseret News 's editorial page editor Jay Evensen wrote editorial stating that while Leavitt and 80% of Utahns stand against the project, it might lead to a situation like the WTO riots in Seattle with "bullets and tear gas", and called the laws passed by Utah as "more like blackmail than
9794-406: The opponents of racism. Additionally, the perception and stigma of nuclear waste combines to reduce institutional trust and promote a NIMBY attitude, leading to the siting of locally unwanted land uses in minority communities with less time or resources to organize against it. Values and cost assigned to materials are culturally dependent and open to interpretation. Understandings and beliefs about
9912-401: The project "dealt heavily with the rhetoric of death", such as Leavitt's "over my dead body" comment and Orrin Hatch stating it was "dead on arrival". Other opposition tended to focus on "death" and "cancer" when discussing risks. In a journal article described elsewhere as "the first comprehensive synthesis of the narratives employed by proponents of a nuclear site", Jennifer A. Peeples described
10030-448: The project on September 6, 2006, in a record of decision, usurping the lower BIA's review. The rail line spur was also denied by DOI. With the rejection of the lease, Orrin Hatch said "We just wanted to put a spike right through the heart of this project and this does it". The two RODs were described as "curious documents", clearly "based more heavily in politics than "reasoned decisionmaking". In July 2007, Skull Valley Band and PFS filed
10148-452: The project's application and legal by then. In an October 2013 letter acknowledging a Fiscal Year 2013 exemption from annual license fees on the unused storage license, Palmberg indicated that PFS would like to keep their license open if the 2014 fee exemption was allowed. A formal request for withdrawal of termination was made in 2014, apparently after the exemptions were granted. PFS, pursuant to program applications in 1996, 2001, and 2006,
10266-460: The project) to impress "with credentials rather than data". Proponents made arguments against Utah that were framed in political motivations, such as indicating that Gov. Leavitt's concern was with reelection, not the project itself. This was reinforced by ennobling Leon Bear as having the best interests of the tribe at heart. Aligning proponents with ennobled scientists legitimizes their arguments. In contrast, opponents vilified Leon Bear, disputing
10384-558: The proposal) and Jon M. Huntsman Jr. , and Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson . The conflict and concerns reached the front page of the New York Times in 1998. Legal protection under the Price–Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act , even for private operation on Indian lands, was settled with 1999's El Paso Natural Gas Co. v. Neztsosie , which noted Price-Anderson's "unmistakable preference for
10502-647: The record to be reopened in January 2004, but the NRC chose not to intervene, stating the "concerns are very serious, but they belong in another forum, not an NRC licensing proceeding." Despite the indictments, the Salt Lake Tribune described the tribe as being "in meltdown" by late 2006, with their Salt Lake development office locked and mail piling up. Vice Chairman Lori Bear, Lawrence Bear's daughter, resigned in August stating she
10620-560: The relative wealth of the Mescalero compared to the Skull Valley band raised the question if consent could be freely given by the band. Targeting Skull Valley for waste can be seen as part of an ongoing failure of exploitation and environmental justice . On the other hand, the band spent years learning about the risks, the Mescaleros were able to decline, which could make second-guessing the band's decision as racism and paternalism. Opposition to
10738-486: The sites. It barred construction of a MRS facility in a state under consideration for a permanent waste repository. The DOE in 1985 recommended an integral MRS facility. Of the eleven sites identified within the preferred geographic region, the DOE selected three sites in Tennessee for further study. In March 1987, after more than a year of legal action in the federal courts, the DOE submitted its final proposal to Congress for
10856-457: The spent fuel storage, and the Blackbears had been elected. BIA continued to support the Bear leadership, which continued to support the PFS project. Bullcreek indicated Bear had begun to receive payments from PFS in 1996, then signed the lease and received BIA approval. Blackbear alleged that Leon Bear had made "extraordinary purchases" for personal use and also did not allocate PFS project money to
10974-472: The standards to extend out to 1 million years. A license application was submitted in the summer of 2008 and is presently under review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Obama Administration rejected use of the site in the 2010 United States federal budget , which eliminated all funding except that needed to answer inquiries from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, "while the Administration devises
11092-415: The state had overstated their case, and it was ruled in PFS's favor. The state laws were struck down in 2002 over federal preemption, and it was upheld in a 2004 Tenth Circuit appeals court. By 2003 the NRC application process was still ongoing. Representative Rob Bishop , along with Cannon and Matheson, sponsored a successful amendment (Amendment 383) to the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act to create
11210-416: The state, federal, and international levels. In November, 2014, SCE announced a partnership with Ice Energy to provide more efficient energy storage by freezing water at night when electricity is cheaper. (Ice Energy filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in December 2019.) In 2015, Southern California Edison laid off about 400 IT employees, with an additional 100 IT workers leaving voluntarily. Meanwhile,
11328-539: The surface, so the standard applied to natural geologic pathways was more stringent than the standard applied to artificial pathways of radionuclide travel created during construction of the facility. Enrico Fermi described an alternative solution: Consume all actinides in fast neutron reactors, leaving only fission products requiring special custody for less than 300 years. This requires continuous fuel reprocessing. PUREX separates plutonium and uranium, but leaves other actinides with fission products, thereby not addressing
11446-518: The three commissioners, Gregory Jaczko , dissenting. NRC accepted PFS's calculations of 0.74*10^-6 for a military plane crash resulting in a cask failure. Several objections noted Utah had "waived the right" to arguments because they failed to bring them up in a timely manner (such as the 15 previous hearings). Another ruling referred to Utah's continued objection ('Contention UU') as a "thinly-supported new contention". Ultimately, Utah's concerns (125 specific contentions) were struck down in court, finding
11564-467: The tribe by 1995. Bear shaped tribal decisions by attaching tribal money to them, in contrast to the previously equal distribution of funds. For instance, the tribe's 1998 Christmas bonuses were tied to acceptance of the PFS project and would result in $ 6000 bonuses for supporters and $ 400 bonuses for those against PFS. In 2000 a tribe member stated "everyone who supports the facility has a new truck—if you don’t support Leon, you don’t have anything", showing
11682-457: The tribe to the NRC. The Department of the Interior (DOI), Bureau of Indian Affairs , and Bureau of Land Management blocked parts of the plan- for instance, DOI denied the right-of-way required for transportation to the project because it was against the public interest. The Interior Department's objections were struck down in court as "arbitrary and capricious" in 2010. Six parties, including
11800-485: The tribe. The following day, as part of a NRC ASLPB investigation, Leon Bear and John Donnell (PFS project member working for Stone & Webster ) were deposed. The transcript was then released on 17 May 2001 in redacted form after a protective order was granted. Bear noted there were 112 people enrolled in the tribe, and "about 15" lived on the reservation. No members of the tribe were employed at Tekoi, compared with several in 1995. Donnell indicated he believed Bear to be
11918-459: The underground facility) was expected to be less than 1,000 years along any pathway of radionuclide travel. Sites with groundwater travel time greater than 1,000 years from the original location to the human environment were considered potentially acceptable, even if the waste would be highly radioactive for 200,000 years or more. Moreover, the term "disturbed zone" was defined in the regulations to exclude shafts drilled into geologic structures from
12036-406: The veto could be overruled by a vote of both houses of Congress. The Act established a Nuclear Waste Fund composed of fees levied against electric utilities to pay for the costs of constructing and operating a permanent repository, and set the fee at one mill per kilowatt-hour of nuclear electricity generated. Utilities were charged a one-time fee for storage of spent fuel created before enactment of
12154-604: Was "tired of working with a 'king' and forced to sign blank checks", and the tribe voted to shut down the executive committee. The band failed to reach a quorum, which meant Leon Bear was still the leader, and he described himself as "chief for life at this point" to Reuters. Noting the lack of government, the BIA said they may step in. Other groups that opposed it included Public Citizen , who noted heavy lobbying from PFS through McClure, Gerard & Neuenschwander , led in part by former Idaho Senator James A. McClure , as well as lobbying by
12272-511: Was a one in one million (1*10^-6) probability of an aviation accident occurring per year. PFS attempted to add a fifth factor to the standard NUREG-0800 3.5.1.6-3 four-factor airway calculation, further reducing the odds by the likelihood that a pilot could recognize and steer away from a dangerous crash site, initially discussed as being an 85.5% reduction. Ultimately NRC calculated a higher probability above four in one million (4.29*10^-6), compared with PFS's calculation of 2*10^-8. The possibility of
12390-452: Was active in the early 1990s after its first negotiator, David Leroy , was appointed in 1991. Leroy described the government as "seek[ing] volunteers" of counties and tribes willing to host a MRS. After rounds of grants and applications to the counties and tribes, the willing sites was reduced to Indian reservations that had the tribal sovereignty to host spent fuel, as counties were described by Leroy as having "angry mobs" opposed to it. This
12508-481: Was considered "particularly reprehensible from an ethical standpoint because of the long and often destructive history of Indian involvement in U.S. nuclear programs." By March 1993 only four tribes remained interested in the project, and by August 1993 two were in negotiations: the Mescalero tribe's Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation in New Mexico and the Goshute tribe's Skull Valley Indian Reservation in Utah. The ONWN
12626-486: Was created by presidential memorandum in 2010 and a report was issued in December 2012, discussing nuclear waste especially after the termination of the Yucca Mountain project. Changes were also made to the Waste Confidence Rule in 2010, requiring nuclear power plant operators and others to have confidence in the ability to dispose of spent nuclear fuel. Since a private temporary storage site would not cause title to
12744-469: Was defunded in late 1993 and expired in 1995. The Skull Valley band applied for grants created by the 1987 program and by 1990. The first round of grants, approximately $ 100,000, funded the band executive committee's travel to Sacramento, California's Rancho Seco nuclear plant , Washington state's Hanford Site , Florida Power & Light nuclear facilities, and Virginia 's Surry Nuclear Power Plant . The second phase of grants, approximately $ 200,000, sent
12862-424: Was given in a dispassionate, pragmatic, and scientific tone; even references to the fuel storage facility rarely mentioned the humans working there. Proponents in the community framed their arguments in terms of morality, equity, and economic justice (financial restitution through the PFS money) and emotional attacks against opponents, or constructing rationale why opponents argued against the project, including blaming
12980-607: Was initially submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1997 by PFS's Chairman of the Board John D. Parkyn. The initial application stated there were zero facilities within a ten-mile radius; by 2002, applications indicated the Goshute village, two ranches, and the Tekoi solid fuel rocket testing facility were noted as being within five miles. By 2002, however, Tekoi was no longer in operation. Shaw Pittman represented
13098-409: Was not consistent with National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recommendations and was too short. The NAS report had recommended standards be set for the time of peak risk, which might approach a period of one million years. By limiting the compliance time to 10,000 years, EPA did not respect a statutory requirement that it develop standards consistent with NAS recommendations. The EPA subsequently revised
13216-508: Was not needed. Utah filed a similar complaint in 2002, which was rejected by the commission two months later. By 2000, however, the Tooele County was on board with PFS; the commissioners, Teryl Hunsaker and Gary Griffith, spoke about the economic boost to the county. Gov Leavitt stated the county had been bought off. Griffith, however, lost his commission seat later that year to a critic of PFS, Gene White. Beginning in 2001, Utah also passed
13334-433: Was racist, which then makes any decisions by him tainted, making the proponents portray themselves as standing against racism. The framework of environmental justice and environmental racism is argued as too simplistic or part of a "oversimplified dichotomy" in cases like this, which also involve procedural justice , restorative justice , tribal identity politics , various definitions of sovereignty, self-determination,
13452-429: Was required to make biannual NRC Quality Assurance Program filings. Those were made in 2017 Decisions surrounding nuclear waste siting by the tribes, especially Mescalaro and Goshutes, brought up issues of tribal sovereignty , economic exploitation , forcing Western democracy on tribes, and cultural imperialism . Expecting a tribe to 'volunteer' to handle the waste was described as a "modern Hobson's choice ". Further,
13570-420: Was required to review site recommendations and submit to Congress by March 31, 1987, his recommendation of one site for the first repository, and by March 31, 1990, his recommendation for a second repository. The amount of high-level waste or spent fuel that could be placed in the first repository was limited to the equivalent of 70,000 metric tons of heavy metal until a second repository was built. The Act required
13688-421: Was still optimistic about the project. PFS and NRC's staff appealed the commission's ruling a few weeks later. The board reevaluated of the crash likelihood and factored in only crashes that would result in breaching the dry cask, including delving into minutae like ductility ratios of buildings versus casks. NRC ruled in PFS's favor, then again in PFS's favor during an appeal from Utah in 2005, though with one of
13806-407: Was to consider for a permanent repository for the nation's radioactive waste. Years of study and procedural steps remained. The amendment also authorized a monitored retrievable storage facility, but not until the permanent repository was licensed. Early in 2002, the Secretary of Energy recommended approval of Yucca Mountain for development of a repository based on the multiple factors as required in
13924-573: Was told to take title to the SNF no later than 1998. By 1987 DOE planned to build the facility near Oak Ridge, Tennessee on federal land as government nuclear research projects meant skilled personnel and infrastructure were already in place. Opposition to the Oak Ridge location led to its prohibition in a 1987 amendment to the NWPA. This 1987 amendment also created the Office of the United States Nuclear Waste Negotiator (ONWN), which
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