Nevadans rally in D.C. with anti-Yucca activists

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002 | 10:58 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada lawmakers rallied outside the U.S. Capitol today with anti-Yucca Mountain activists, publicly pleading their arguments against the proposed nuclear waste dump.

Ultimately the lawmakers hope they are capturing President Bush's attention, even though they are well aware that Bush could approve Yucca Mountain by Friday.

But as Nevada officials again demonstrated today, they are also looking to the next phase of the battle, waging a high-stakes offensive to win over more of the public -- particularly people who live in states along routes that would be used to haul the nation's most radioactive nuclear waste to Nevada.

Nevada's four members of Congress also are scrambling in a what may be a long-shot bid to convince a majority of their fellow lawmakers to vote with them against the project later this year.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., spoke to about 50 activists, arguing against Yucca. Organizers said they would stage more rallies in Washington and along the transportation routes.

The lawmakers stress that Bush -- who is waiting for Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's recommendation to make Yucca Mountain the nation's nuclear waste repository -- does not have enough vital scientific information to make a decision. They argue that transporting nuclear waste was a dangerous plan that invites accidents and terrorist strikes.

A gray, inflatable mock nuclear waste cask stood behind the podium with a sign that said "Have a heart, oppose the Yucca Mountain dump."

"Radiation makes you sick and it shouldn't be shipped past your home and mine," said Robert Musil, director of Physicians for Social Repsonsibility.

A number of the activists focused on the transportation issue. One of the organizers, Wenonah Hauter of Public Citizen, said that more rallies like today's rally will be held in Washington and along the transportation routes to draw attention to the dangers of shipping waste.

"This is going to become a more public issue here in Washington and along the transportation routes, especially given the terrorism issue," she said. "Most people aren't even aware that their areas are at risk."

Nuclear industry officials, who strongly support the Yucca project, have said anti-Yucca forces make unfair statements and mislead the public.

They stress that Congress broke a contract agreement with nuclear power utilities to haul their waste away by 1998 as the Yucca project suffered delays.

Nuclear industry leaders say the Yucca Mountain site is the most studied place on earth and that research has uncovered no reasons to halt the project, in direct conflict with arguments made by Nevada officials.

Industry officials also counter arguments that transporting waste is unsafe. They stress that about 3,000 shipments of various types of highly radioactive waste have been made in America since the mid-1960s, with only a few accidents. Not one resulted in radiation release, they say.

"These (nuclear waste) casks are subjected to rigorous tests and we feel they are certainly safe for transport," said Mitch Singer, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute.

NEI, the industry's leading trade group, has launched its own public relations campaign in favor of the Yucca Mountain site. It centers on less conspicuous efforts: aggressive lobbying in Congress, studying focus group research about nuclear energy and releasing polls that show support for nuclear energy, and advertising. NEI likely will buy advertisements in the Washington Post and Capitol Hill publications as a Yucca vote nears in Congress, NEI officials have said.

In recent weeks NEI has sent out video tapes to chambers of commerce and television news stations nationwide to promote the safety of the metal containers used to store and ship nuclear waste.

NEI does not, however, hold public rallies like the one today.

"It's obvious it's basically a big show and it demonstrates that this process is very politically oriented," Singer said. "We don't do any 'Mobile Chernobyl' kind of events, and I don't think we ever will."

NEI sent one representative to the rally. Communications specialist Steve Kerekes stood quietly away from the action. He said the industry routinely transports nuclear waste without much risk.

Meanwhile advocates and critics of the Yucca Mountain project this week are still anxiously watching the Energy secretary. Abraham told Gov. Kenny Guinn on Jan. 10 that he would recommend to President Bush that the department had deemed the site a suitable place to bury the nation's most radioactive nuclear waste.

If the project receives approvals from Bush, Congress and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, trucks and trains could begin hauling 77,000 tons of waste to Nevada from the nation's nuclear power plants and defense sites, as early as 2010.

Abraham was expected to recommend the site this week and Bush was expected to quickly approve it. White House sources have said they expect action from Abraham and Bush before Bush leaves Saturday for a trip to Japan, South Korea and China.

Bush summoned Abraham to the White House for a meeting Tuesday. Details of the conversation have not been disclosed. That followed a meeting one week ago in which Guinn, Ensign and Reid urged Bush not to approve the site.