How Yucca Mountain became a fiasco:
Now of course, the primary reason why USA selected the Yucca Mountain Site is the simple fact that the Nevada Desert is relatively unpopulated, and the State had no power in Washington. (That's also the reason why it was later killed- Harry Reid became Majority Leader.)
But the fiasco occurred by ignoring geology. Nevada is the 3rd-most active State for seismic activity (after California and Alaska); it's being pulled apart, widening from east to west. The ability of the rock at Yucca Mountain to DISPERSE the heat of the containers is extremely limited, and hasn't been studied enough to determine the maximum temperatures which our high-level and medium-level storage casks could reach.
But, when your panels consist of nuclear engineers, politicians, and business/labor interests, you can't assess the geology. That's where the Yucca Mountain analysis fell on it's face, and the new "Blue Ribbon Panel" has the same defect: Some great scientists, but they're all nuclear engineers.
The best solution for high-level waste is probably to keep it above ground, and let it "cool off" before attempting permanent containment. More security, yes- and the heavily subsidized nuclear industry should be forced to recognize those costs. But as Americans we just CAN'T STAND doing nothing: we're more likely to bury them too soon, in a location which can't disperse heat properly, and then they'll crack open.
The resulting need to go "Mining" for high-level nuclear waste, leaking out of cracked casks in gigantic concrete-filled tunnels, would be a nightmare. Yucca Mt. is very possibly a location in which the planned "permanent" containment method will FAIL, and we need to use a location which absolutely, positively WORKS.
Geological study-- not a bunch of DOE employees who are pressured to "find" the results which DOE wants, and aren't even capable of understanding the geological issues of this site.
