Letter: DOE refuses to be objective on Yucca site

Monday, April 30, 2001 | 9:46 a.m.

Once again we are greeted by a high-level pronouncement on the objectivity and lack of bias in the selection of Yucca Mountain as the site of the national nuclear waste dump.

It defies objectivity to make such a pronouncement when clearly there are no other sites receiving equal consideration and testing as to their suitability. Las Vegas papers regularly include letters to the editor, which are written by Department of Energy officials. The department also has spent a lot of money flying out dignitaries from other parts of the United States to tour the site at Yucca Mountain and makes self-serving pronouncements on the safety of the site. Granted, if I lived in Tennessee, I would be readily impressed with the safety of the Nevada site, a safe 2,500 miles from my residence.

What is obviously going on here is an exercise in the well-established "science" of public relations. A low-population state such as Nevada, which has tolerated much nuclear exposure in the past, is an easy target for further exploitation. Unfortunately, this conflicts with the changes in the demographics of population growth in the area that would argue against placing a facility in the area about the time it is scheduled to be in operation.

At this point it is obvious that "objectivity" and "science" are code words for ignoring the best interests of Nevadans and continuing to press ahead with a plan that provides an expedient "quick fix" for the growing need for nuclear waste storage.

ERIC STEFIK