Editorial: Clinton’s fair shake for Nevada

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1999 | 9:35 a.m.

President Clinton has reaffirmed his commitment to fairness in the federal government's investigation of whether Yucca Mountain in Nevada is suitable to be a permanent repository for high-level nuclear waste. Clinton, on his way to a fund-raiser in Las Vegas on Friday, told Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan, D-Nev., aboard Air Force One that he would veto legislation pending in Congress that would weaken safety standards for a proposed repository.

Clinton's opposition is critical since Congress is doing everthing in its power to ensure that nuclear waste is sent here. Earlier this year the Senate was prepared to advance legislation that would allow nuclear waste to be shipped to the Nevada Test Site on a "temporary" basis. But this was a ruse: If the waste had been sent here the reality is Congress would have never let it leave Nevada. Fortunately this plan was abandoned following Clinton's threat he would veto that legislation.

But Congress hasn't given up. Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, wants the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- rather than the Environmental Protection Agency -- to set radiation standards for a repository. Why? The NRC requirements are not as tough as those the EPA is proposing. The issue may be different than it was earlier in the year when Congress was talking about establishing a "temporary" nuclear waste repository here, but the fundamentals are the same: Congress is seeking to bend the rules and cater to their friends in the influential nuclear power lobby. A majority of the Senate is likely to vote for this nuclear industry-backed legislation, but Nevada's congressional delegation doesn't believe there are enough votes in the Senate to override a veto.

Prior to Clinton's election in 1992, previous administrations decided that the path of least resistance was not only easiest, but also the politically expedient option to take. It's disgraceful that members of Congress continue to be so cavalier regarding the dangers of storing man's deadliest waste. Last week's accident at a Japanese uranium processing plant was a perfect illustration of how taking shortcuts when dealing with nuclear power can be disastrous. Details are still sketchy, but investigators there are reportedly looking into the possibility that workers at the plant bypassed essential safety steps in a bid to boost production, leading to the worst atomic accident in Japan's history. And UNLV nuclear engineer William Culbreth told the Sun's Mary Manning in a Friday story that a situation similar to Japan's could happen at Yucca Mountain if water leaked into canisters holding nuclear waste, possibly causing a radioactive accident.

Rather than looking for the easy way out in the storage of nuclear waste, members of Congress should be doing whatever they can to ensure that the final resting place for man's deadliest waste is safe. Many doubts have been raised about Yucca Mountain, but the federal government instead has ignored them and tried to lower standards significantly so that Nevada would be stuck with the waste forever. It is time for Congress to follow Clinton's lead and restore scientific objectivity to this project.