Editorial: Time is an ally in this fight

Thursday, Feb. 1, 2001 | 10:34 a.m.

It is somewhat encouraging that the U.S. Department of Energy will delay until the end of the year its decision on whether to recommend Yucca Mountain as a high-level nuclear waste repository. It had been anticipated that a decision could have come at the beginning of this year, but an inspector general's investigation -- into the possibility of a conflict of interest between the DOE and the nuclear industry -- played a role in the postponement. That probe was started after a Sun story suggested there was bias by the DOE in favor of building a repository at Yucca Mountain. Also contributing to the delay were a lack of funds for scientific studies and the fact that no radiation standards have been established for a repository.

Time, at least more of it, is an ally in Nevada's fight against efforts to unfairly place a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. With each passing day that the Department of Energy takes to assess whether Yucca Mountain is suitable for the permanent burial of 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste, it means there is another opportunity for even more scientific evidence to be gathered to show just how unsafe it would be to bury this waste so close to Las Vegas. Although the DOE so far hasn't been receptive to the state's legitimate concerns about the perils of Yucca Mountain, a delay now is preferable to an immediate designation, which unfortunately would almost certainly result in a repository being approved.

Meanwhile, don't be too surprised if the nuclear power industry and its supporters in Congress criticize this delay as preventing the speedy resolution to the permanent storage of nuclear waste. But that would be all wrong. For that matter, this delay isn't long enough. Nuclear waste could be safely stored on-site at nuclear power plants, at least for the next century, while genuine scientific research could establish how to safely dispose of this waste. Another 100 years is a drop in the bucket, considering that this waste will be dangerous for at least another 10,000 years.