Where I stand—Brian Greenspun: Casinos vs. nukes

Tuesday, March 20, 2001 | 9:22 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

"AS FAR as you know, has the gaming industry in Las Vegas taken a position regarding the Yucca Mountain project and the nuclear waste shipments through Clark County?"

That's a fair question. It, along with a couple dozen others, is being asked of gaming leaders throughout the Las Vegas community in an effort by the Nevada Waste Division of the Clark County Department of Comprehensive Planning to prepare an impact report on the proposed Yucca Mountain dump. The answer to that question, by the way, is "no."

That doesn't mean that individual hotel properties and owners are not adamantly against the federal government's full-court press under way to ship 80,000 tons of radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain, because they are opposed. But if the question is: Has the gaming industry opposed it, then the answer must be a negative one. And, that which we do not oppose, we support.

While I applaud Clark County for its survey efforts, I find it hard to believe that the industry or any other thinking Nevadans -- and, yes, that includes our state legislators who claim to have been hornswoggled into supporting a resolution that practically invites that radioactive garbage into our back yard (ask them why they haven't backed away from that hairbrained idea) -- even need to be questioned about where they stand on this issue. It is not as if we asked which kind of breakfast cereal people like. This one is simple. Do you want what no one else on the planet wants in their back yard, in ours?

In order to get a complete picture of gaming industry leaders' concerns, the questioners created three assumptions upon which their questions were based. Here's what they said in the most conservative one: "Over the next 24 years, beginning July 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy plans to ship high-level nuclear waste through Clark County to a repository to be built at Yucca Mountain, Nevada." There will be 49,500 truck loads, which will average 5.7 shipments per day through our community. They will all move across the interstate system which means I-15, the northern and southern legs of the Las Vegas Beltway and U.S. 95. That pretty much covers where everybody down here lives.

In the most conservative we are to assume no accident of any kind will have occurred and any chance of an accident is remote. But the adverse publicity that will be generated will cause property values to drop 3.5 percent within 1 mile on the transportation routes, which covers most Clark County residents. That is a small percentage drop unless you consider the fact that for the past 50 years property values have done nothing but increase. By very big numbers!

The middle scenario assumes no accidents for three years until a driver, just after New Year's Day, turns his truck over at U.S. 95 and the northern beltway. Fortunately, no radioactivity escapes and the container cask remains intact. The roads are reopened in one day and no harm is done. The national attention, however, is nonstop as we know it can be. The result is property values drop almost 8 percent.

The third scenario, and the one I believe is most likely simply because I know that accidents do happen, has a truck involved in a major accident at U.S. 95 and the northern beltway. This time, though, a fully loaded gasoline tanker crashes into the overturned radioactive transport and bursts into flames, which burn for over two hours. The winds carry the fire plume toward populated areas, dispersing radioactive materials over a wide area. Five people receive fatal cancer-causing doses of radiation.

In that case, property values fall almost 34 percent.

Given those scenarios, the respondents are asked what they think the impact would be on their businesses, their customers and tourism generally. It is obvious, or at least it should be, that just by thinking about the answers, the gaming leaders should come to the conclusion that Nevada will not be a safe place for children and other living things should any scenario occur. And if it is only one of the first two scenarios, then the leadership on the Strip will have to conclude that their business values will plummet along with the property values of the people who live and work in the valley. How much do you think you can get for your $100,000 house that is situated just a half mile from the accident site? And how much will that casino stock be worth when the tourists stop coming because the news reports about radioactive accidents become front page materi al for weeks in every newspaper in the country following the accident?

And that's only if scenario three doesn't happen. If property values drop almost 40 percent, how much will the $2 billion Bellagio be worth? Two dollars? No one in their right minds would pay good money knowing full well that the first accident will not be the last. Oh, I didn't tell you that the cleanup effort could take up to a year. How many tourists are going to come a visiting in that time?

Here's another question: If shipments of nuclear waste as described here occur, do you anticipate any adverse impacts on your own hotels? As my friend John says, "big red truck!" which is a nicer way of saying "duh."

Or what about this set of questions: "Do you have insurance coverage for nuclear related problems?" Heck, Lloyd's of London wouldn't even insure that one.

"Is there a corporate plan for a serious downturn in visitations?" Yeah, bankruptcy protection.

"Is there a plan for short term disruption?" Sure, it is called long-term aggravation stemming from countywide panic.

"Do you have plans for evacuating guests?" Are you kidding?

"Do you know if there is a plan for evacuating the Strip?" Now there's a really good question.

So where does the gaming industry stand on the nuclear waste issue? I guess we'll know soon enough when Clark County is through with its survey. It's a shame, though, that we even have to ask these questions to learn the answer. The industry should have been leading the charge against the federal government's efforts to bury Nevada under the nation's nuclear garbage ever since it was first announced. It isn't too late, at least not yet, for the money players to place their bets.

Let's hope that they are betting with the house. Yours and mine!

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