Concert highlights anti-nuke campaign

Monday, Nov. 13, 2000 | 11:40 a.m.

The Las Vegas arts community and anti-nuclear waste activists are joining forces to begin a nationwide campaign to educate the public about the dangers of burying 77,000 tons of radioactive reactor fuel at Yucca Mountain.

The Department of Energy is studying Yucca Mountain for the nation's high-level nuclear waste repository. If it is approved, a repository could open as soon as 2010.

Many people are not aware of the dangers posed to the economic tourism base in Las Vegas as well as the public's health from nuclear waste trucked to the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Joshua Abbey, director of the Gan Or Foundation, said.

Abbey created Gan Or, meaning "garden of light" in Hebrew, about three months ago. The organization is sponsoring a concert at 8 p.m. Friday to benefit Citizens Against Nuclear Waste in Nevada, or CANWIN.

The entertainment will be offered at the Clark County Library theater, 1401 E. Flamingo Road, featuring Scenic, a progressive instrumental music group inspired by desert landscapes from Sedona, Ariz., to Los Angeles, and Space Management, based in Las Vegas.

Cheryl Lau, president of CANWIN, said she appreciated the effort Gan Or is making to spread the message nationwide against transporting nuclear waste through 43 states, passing the homes of 53 million Americans.

Tickets are $10 and are available at Big B's CDs and Records, 4761 S. Maryland Parkway, and at the library theater's box office the night of the event.