If Yucca Mountain, Nevada is approved as the permanent federal repository for high level nuclear waste and spent fuel, will the Skull Valley temporary storage site be needed?
If the Yucca Mountain facility had been approved and opened by Jan. 31, 1998, as required by law, then there would be no need for a temporary facility. However, Yucca Mountain is behind schedule and could not open until 2010 at the earliest; opening probably will be closer to 2015. Meanwhile, there are nuclear plants that will run out of on-site storage before Yucca Mountain could open. Those plants are faced with the difficult decision to shut down their reactors prematurely, severely limiting their ability to meet the electricity needs of their customers and the nation as a whole. Therefore, even if Yucca Mountain is approved later this year, the need for a stop-gap storage option will continue until it is actually open and accepting shipments of spent fuel. The sooner Yucca Mountain is approved, licensed, and opened, the less time a facility in Skull Valley will be needed.
