Editorial: Nuke dump fight heads to court

Friday, June 29, 2001 | 10:35 a.m.

Last month Nevada officials mostly were pleased when the Bush administration signed off on Clinton-era proposals that set tougher safety standards than the nuclear power industry had wanted for a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Still, Nevada officials believe that the regulations in some areas aren't strict enough, prompting the state this week to sue the Environmental Protection Agency in a bid to reverse some of the recommendations.

Specifically, state officials contend that the 10,000-year time frame for the standards to be in effect isn't long enough, especially since this waste still will be deadly long after that period. Nevada officials also note that the boundary at which radiation would be measured starts at 12 miles from the dump's center. In contrast, a repository in New Mexico that handles military nuclear waste measures radiation starting three miles away. Both of the state's objections to the regulations are reasonable and should be adopted.

Nevada has established an excellent case over the years as to why Yucca Mountain should be disqualified, but the Department of Energy has been reluctant to listen. So one of the key fights will be over the establishment of safety standards that a repository would have to meet before it could be built. Nevada wants standards that in a fair way ensure that its residents couldn't be harmed if radiation was released during an accident. Indeed, standards that would guarantee the public's safety would disqualify Yucca Mountain. The nuclear power industry realizes this and has filed a lawsuit itself, asking a judge to overturn some of the EPA's radiation guidelines, standards that the industry believes could rule out Yucca Mountain.

The bottom line is that nuclear waste is man's most lethal substance. It would be unconscionable to relax radiation standards at all in light of the stakes involved.