Editorial: Lessons of history get ignored

Thursday, Nov. 4, 1999 | 9:26 a.m.

When a radiation limit for a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada is discussed, the standard all too frequently changes and instead becomes a moving target. As scientists confront the daunting task of safely storing 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste in Nevada, nuclear industry lobbyists and government researchers have sought to loosen the acceptable radiation limit for a repository.

On Tuesday the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which ultimately must decide whether Yucca Mountain meets the standards to build a repository, held a workshop in Las Vegas to get public input. Critics said one of the NRC's proposals would weaken radiation limits, because it would be less stringent than that offered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Ultimately the EPA is the agency that would establish the radiation standards -- although members of Congress are contemplating turning this authority over to the NRC.

The NRC's attitude is worrisome. After all, the atomic age -- in the context of man's history -- is young and our knowledge of the dangers that radiation poses is still limited. It wasn't that long ago when the U.S. government told us that radiation was virtually harmless. During the 1950s it wasn't uncommon for soldiers and even civilians to witness aboveground atomic tests just outside of Las Vegas. The tests often were conducted in a celebratory atmosphere; the problem was that hundreds of thousands were exposed unwittingly to the deadly fallout.

Ironically, during the same week that the NRC seeks public comment on its view that radiation standards should be weakened at Yucca Mountain, Congress simultaneously is moving closer to passing legislation that would allow more people to be compensated financially who were exposed to aboveground nuclear tests or uranium mining necessary for nuclear weapons production. It's a disgrace that Congress only seems willing to show compassion after the fact -- once Americans are either dead or dying caused by the government's failure to protect the public's health and safety.

In the case of Yucca Mountain, it would make more sense to rule it out now, because of its shortcomings, rather than manipulate the science. Other alternatives, such as transmutation or dry cask storage on site where the nuclear reactors are, are preferable to shoveling nuclear waste underground in the illusory hope that nothing will go wrong. Out of sight and out of mind simply won't work when it comes to the storage of nuclear waste.