Jacobsen temporarily takes over as governor

Friday, Feb. 8, 2002 | 10:03 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- For a few hours Thursday a lawmaker who believes the state has a responsibility to accept high-level nuclear waste -- which would be buried at Yucca Mountain -- governed Nevada.

Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, president pro-tem of the Senate, took over for Gov. Kenny Guinn, who was in Washington trying to convince President Bush to not designate Yucca as the nation's nuclear waste repository.

Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, who is second in command to Guinn, was out of state.

Said Jacobsen, who is third in line, said, "We've got a responsibility to take that waste."

Most of our military ships are powered by nuclear fuel, he said.

He said he is "not completely for it (Yucca Mountain)," and he wants to see Nevada reimbursed if the repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is built.

And he wants assurances from the federal government that the site will be safe.

"We can't just say, 'Go away,' " said Jacobsen who has been one of the few in the Legislature to vote against resolutions opposing Yucca Mountain. "We have to get some type of consideration," he said.

Jacobsen has traveled across the nation and to foreign countries to review how other places handle radioactive waste. He said he was impressed with the safety measures that are taken.

Jacobsen didn't find much to do during his temporary ascension to power. He toured the Capitol and observed that Hunt, Secretary of State Dean Heller, Treasurer Brian Krolicki and Controller Kathy Augustine were not in their offices.

Meanwhile some members of the Homeland Security Committee, meeting in Carson City, said the proposed repository is cause for concern.

State Epidemiologist Randall Todd said shipping the waste to Nevada "is not something we can take lightly."