Editorial: Bad ideas have life of their own

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2003 | 8:44 a.m.

Last week a scientific panel recommended that a proposed nuclear waste dump destined for Nevada be built in stages. That way, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences contended, the project could be developed based on the most recent scientific information. Safety, environmental and cost concerns could be constantly reviewed, according to the panel that advises Congress on scientific issues. The proposal, however, would offer the wrong direction for the Energy Department, which is seeking approval to build the dump.

As pointed out by Bob Loux, the executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, the plan advocated by the scientific panel could allow the Energy Department to avoid its responsibility to prove that the entire site would be safe. Loux also notes that it is another way to get nuclear waste into Nevada temporarily. For example, the panel is recommending that waste could be stored above ground at or near Yucca Mountain as project managers work though each stage of the project. This isn't just bad news for Nevada, though. An Indian reservation in Utah may soon win federal approval to build a nuclear-waste storage facility, and that site very well could be a temporary dump for Yucca Mountain if the "stages" plan is adopted. There would be quite a bit of irony if that development pans out: Utah's two U.S. senators voted in favor of sending nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, despite warnings that it would increase the risk of their state becoming a temporary storage dump ! for nuclear waste.

One of the many problems all along has been that politicians and too many scientists have been looking for an easy way out when it comes to Yucca Mountain's fate. They don't care that Yucca Mountain is unsafe geologically and that the hazards of shipping nuclear waste cross-country haven't been addressed. Nevertheless, not only should the Nuclear Regulatory Commission throw out the plan from the National Academy's National Research Council, but ultimately it should reject the Energy Department's plan to build a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.