Editorial: DOE gets sobering news on nuke dump

Sunday, Feb. 27, 2000 | 9:39 a.m.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission hardly can be considered friendly to Nevada. It should be noted that the NRC is the agency that wants to make it easier for the U.S. Department of Energy to build a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. That's why the NRC's criticism last week of the DOE's environmental impact statement on Yucca Mountain is so noteworthy.

As the Sun's Mary Manning reported, the NRC claimed that the DOE failed to assess the cumulative impacts of a repository, a critical provision in federal environmental law. For instance, the DOE didn't consider the future use of ground water at Yucca Mountain in light of growing local cities. Although the NRC's criticisms aren't as harsh as those from Nevada officials, if the NRC says the DOE has problems, then we should be alarmed. The DOE should accept the advice from Nevada officials: Junk this flawed document and start all over again.

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