Letter: Nuclear waste must be stopped in its tracks

Thursday, Feb. 21, 2002 | 8:34 a.m.

If you are one of the cynics who said a Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository was a done deal, I have to admit you were right.

It is inconceivable to activists, who attended meetings, to believe that Department of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and now President Bush would in a brazen political move agree to move toward licensing for the repository.

Sound science has nothing to do with this decision! They both know that there are over 290 gaps in the scientific data. They know that Yucca Mountain is in a seismic zone with a volcanic history. They know that there are corrosive minerals and micro-organisms that will corrode titanium and stainless steel waste packages. They know that aside from radiation risks, there are environmental risks that are now not being investigated. They know that there has not been a transportation EIS conducted by the DOE which, after Sept. 11, must consider terrorism. They both know that retrievability of the waste packages cannot be guaranteed by a robotic system.

President Bush should certainly know that after Sept. 11, when the federal government failed us, that creating over a thousand targets yearly for three decades is against homeland defense, anti-terrorism, sound strategic planning and good common sense.

The citizens in the 31 states that have nuclear reactors must be made to realize that even without the waste there will be 103 terrorist targets, the plants themselves. Then they will still need cooling pools and dry cask storage for future waste!

Yucca Mountain is to America's homeland security and anti-terrorism what Enron is to the financial markets. It is up to you to phone, write, e-mail and fax President Bush, DOE Secretary Spencer Abraham and members of Congress. Our elected officials will be taking legal action. Don't sit back, make your voice heard!

FRANK PERNA