Letter from the BRC to the Members of the South Carolina Congressional Delegation

Dear Members of the South Carolina Congressional Delegation:
Thank you all for your letter of October 27th. We appreciate hearing your views on the
Yucca Mountain project, the safety benefits of deep geologic disposal, and the
importance of the retaining the H Canyon facility at the Department of Energy’s
Savannah River Site.
In our draft report, the Commission finds that deep geologic disposal is an essential
component of a comprehensive nuclear waste management system. Your comments
about the suitability of Yucca Mountain to serve as a deep geologic disposal site echo
those we have heard from people across the country who believe the United States
should not abandon the investment it has made in developing Yucca Mountain as a
proposed nuclear waste repository. As we have listened to testimony and public
comment, we have been constantly reminded of the serious lack of trust that exists
today in the federal government’s ability to meet its waste cleanup obligations. The
decision to withdraw the license application for the proposed Yucca Mountain
repository has only increased this deficit of trust. Unfortunately, the longer our country
fails to solve the nuclear waste problem, the greater the trust deficit becomes – with the
U.S. government continuing to fail in its legal and moral obligation to take spent nuclear
fuel and defense high level waste while the future of nuclear power as an option for
electrical generation in this country is seriously jeopardized.