Letter: Don’t assume it’s sound science

Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2002 | 9:04 a.m.

Want to know why our government leaders are rapidly losing any credibility they may have left?

How about this: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's assistant for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs, Dr. Dale Klein, argued in support of more testing at Nevada Test Site by saying that "from a scientific standpoint you need to have experimental data to go along with the modeling and analytical study."

I guess that's the kind of "sound science" President Bush used in deciding to approve Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste dump.

But wait ... what happened to the "experimental data to go along with the modeling and analytical study" when it comes to the burial casks and transportation containers for the waste to be stored at Yucca?

As I understand it, no actual burial casks or transportation containers actually exist yet! The "sound science" here is based solely on computer modeling.

And, as someone who has worked with computer modeling for years, the assumptions you put in the model have a dramatic impact on the results.

And we all know the old adage: Don't assume, because when you do you make an ass/u/me (that is, you make an ass of you and me).

In this case, the collective asses of Nevadans and all our brethren along the transportation routes will be in danger of being put into a radioactive sling.

BARRY JACOBS