Nuclear waste survey misleading, Bryan says

Benjamin Grove and Mary Manning

Friday, Sept. 8, 2000 | 11:26 a.m.

A survey gauging public perception of risk created by storing nuclear waste in Nevada is raising eyebrows even before the results are tallied.

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., on Thursday obtained a copy of what he considered a questionable UNLV survey after one of the survey respondents called him, he said.

Bryan said the survey interjects topics that have never been a part of debate and discussion about Yucca Mountain, thereby confusing respondents. Congress has proposed to bury 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste at the site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"The risks are underplayed" in the survey, Bryan said. "It tends to be skewed in terms of the approach it takes. I just think it's misleading."

For instance, one hypothetical survey question asks respondents if they would move away because of perceived health risks created by waste storage, assuming the federal government would pay for them to move. It also asks respondents if they would stay in Nevada if they got certain amounts of money in tax rebates. But no one has ever suggested the government would pay such costs, Bryan said.

"That just comes out of left field," Bryan said. "Are they going to move the whole state? Any compromise that would surrender health and safety standards for Nevadans for some transitory financial gain would be unconscionable."

Bryan on Thursday fired off a letter to UNLV President Carol Harter looking for answers.

UNLV Interim Provost Ray Alden said the survey, being conducted by Mary Riddel, a new associate professor of economics, had been misunderstood.

The risks presented to those surveyed are hypothetical. "That doesn't mean they are going to happen," he said.

"It's a standard way for quantifying the public's reaction to risk, a way to quantify people's perceptions of risk," Alden said of the survey. "The public's perception of risk is much more important than the DOE's quantification of risks."

Riddel is an environmental economist, who specializes in putting values on non-market goods, like the environment, she said.

"This is a scientific exercise that is just trying to put a value on this non-market good -- safety," Riddel said.

The survey began in June and will be complete in November, surveying 500 people randomly chosen by phone number.

Respondents agreed to participate well before answering questions and have time to review a Yucca information packet. Riddel said seven of her students are asking the questions.

Riddel received a university grant called a New Investigator Award worth $8,500 to run the survey.

Alden said the survey was not sponsored by Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV, although Riddel is a professor with the center.

Riddel plans to research and write an academic paper about the results. The information could be used by agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency.

"It's just for people to get an idea about costs," Riddel said. "It's not at all a political exercise."

The Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, a state organization in charge of overseeing the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository studies, was unaware of the survey.

"I haven't heard anything about it," Agency Executive Director Robert Loux said.