Distributive justice and environmental ethics at Yucca mountain: another view

Abstract

Congress has directed the US Department of Energy to characterize the Yucca Mountain site on Federal land in Nye County, Nevada, to determine if it is suitable as a location for the nation's first high‐level nuclear waste repository. This directive is within the purview of Congress as the ultimate Constitutional authority for the use and disposal of the public lands. The ethics of that directive and its implementation have been questioned, but it nevertheless meets accepted modern ethical standards. Those who have generated the wastes are required to assume the technical and financial burdens of disposing of them. They are further required to mitigate the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of site characterization and waste disposal, compensating persons who suffer loss. The present waste generators are also required to dispose of the waste in a manner which minimizes impacts on future generations. The Department of Energy functions as agent for disposal of the waste and receives implementation funds from the waste generators through the Nuclear Waste Fund. The Department is statutorily exempt from the requirement to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement on the characterization effort, but is required to meet the other requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. In meeting those requirements, the Department has prepared a series of documents and plans which set forth the measures which it proposes to take in minimizing and mitigating environmental impacts at Yucca Mountain.