Editorial: Terrorism renews fears of nuke waste

Friday, Sept. 21, 2001 | 9:38 a.m.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks last week, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham did the right thing when he suspended at least 20 shipments of low-level nuclear waste that were bound for the Nevada Test Site. Ironically, Abraham's decision also brings more attention to a transportation issue his department would just as soon see go away: the plans to ship high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, waste that is abundantly more dangerous than that which Abraham is now halting.

In the case of Yucca Mountain, the Department of Energy has ignored the state of Nevada's argument that transcontinental shipments of man's deadliest waste would be ripe for either accident or terrorism. What Abraham should do is acknowledge this danger and recommend that the Yucca Mountain Project be scrapped while alternative technologies are explored that would render high-level nuclear waste less harmful, allowing it to be left at the nuclear power plants where it was created and can be safely guarded.

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