Editing Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository (section)

=== Inconsistent standards ===
Shortly after the EPA first established these standards in 2001, the nuclear industry, several environmental and public interest groups, and the State of Nevada challenged the standards in court. In July 2004, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found in favor of the EPA on all counts except one: the 10,000 year regulatory time frame. The court ruled that EPA's 10,000-year compliance period for isolation of radioactive waste was not consistent with [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] (NAS) recommendations and was too short.<ref>Vandenbosch, Robert, and Susanne E. Vandenbosch. 2007. ''Nuclear waste stalemate''. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 111, 190–191.</ref><ref>Nuclear Energy Institute v. EPA, 373 ''F.3d'' 1251 (D.C. Cir. 2004). [http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200407/01-1258a.pdf UScourts.gov]</ref>

The NAS report had recommended standards be set for the time of peak risk, which might approach a period of one million years.<ref>U.S. National Research Council, Committee on Technical Bases for Yucca Mountain Standards. 1995. ''Technical Bases for Yucca Mountain standards''. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.</ref> By limiting the compliance time to 10,000 years, EPA did not respect a statutory requirement that it develop standards consistent with NAS recommendations.<ref>Vandenbosch, Robert, and Susanne E. Vandenbosch. 2007. ''Nuclear waste stalemate''. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, p. 111.</ref>