Editorial: Deadlines can yield doomsday

Monday, Sept. 25, 2000 | 9:28 a.m.

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Last week a Nuclear Regulatory Commission's advisory committee was told that the Department of Energy may start as early as next year the construction of a high-level nuclear waste repository at Nevada's Yucca Mountain -- even before it's been determined whether Yucca Mountain is safe to store 77,000 tons of nuclear waste.

As if that wasn't distressing enough, the Sun's Mary Manning also reported on Thursday that the DOE may go ahead and favorably recommend Yucca Mountain next year even though a key dispute about the mountain's suitability likely won't be answered by then. Two DOE laboratories still haven't agreed on whether 50-year-old radioactive fallout from atomic bomb testing has traveled inside Yucca Mountain. The reason why this is important is that if the radioactivity is occurring from the atomic tests, not naturally, then it would indicate that rain and snow from the desert's surface could enter more rapidly than scientists previously believed. This, in turn, could result in ground water corroding the radioactive waste containers, a deadly prospect.

Deadlines are a necessary evil in life. If deadlines aren't met, business -- and much of life as we know it -- comes to a screeching halt. But carried to an extreme, artificially imposed deadlines can result in tragic decisions, yielding consequences that can haunt our generation and future ones. It is insane to hurry a decision on Yucca Mountain, especially since the nuclear waste that's been produced by nuclear power reactors can be stored safely on site for at least a hundred years. What's behind this rush to judgment is that the nuclear power industry, members of Congress and the DOE fear that if additional scientific investigation occurs, even more evidence will accumulate demonstrating Yucca Mountain's unsuitability to store man's deadliest waste.