Opponents of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository are gearing up to fight new radiation limits proposed last week by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Under the new standard, the Department of Energy (DOE) would have to show that, for 10,000 years, a hypothetical resident of the area would receive only 15 millirems of radiation per year above the background exposure of 350 millirems per year. For the next 990,000 years, the limit would be 350 millirems per year above the background level. EPA says that residents of Denver, Colorado, currently receive that yearly level of background--whose sources include radon, cosmic rays, and medical components--and that setting acceptable limits given the vast unknowns is arbitrary. But the Minneapolis-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research said the 350-millirem limit would be the "worst in the Western world." The public has 60 days to comment; once finalized, DOE must prove it can meet the limits.
