Letter: Nuclear disaster a likely legacy we will leave

Thursday, June 8, 2000 | 12:11 p.m.

It was interesting to see a letter to the editor suggesting if we vote Republican we will have nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, and if we vote Democrat, we won't.

I think it's time we Nevadans wise up to the fact this is a done deal. Yucca Mountain is the nation's nuclear waste repository, once it's finished. Those aren't test tunnels they're digging, it's the finished project they're working on. And, yes, President Clinton vetoed the bill that would have declared it a fact, but it was safe for him to do that at this time, as the repository isn't finished.

I'm sure as soon as it's ready for massive shipments of the nation's poisons, they will find all the votes they need to declare Nevada shafted. They've told us all along science will be the final decision maker on the safety of using Yucca Mountain, and I'm quite sure there will be a battery of "scientists" declaring it safe for that use.

A few years from now when an earthquake destroys much of the repository, spreading nuclear waste over much of the nation, or ground water rises into the repository, putting radioactive waste into our ground water, we will hear the "it was an unforeseen development" excuse from those scientific groups, and a lot of wringing of hands from the politicians in Washington. What a legacy we're leaving!

RICHARD FISHBACK