Editorial: Crash go the Yucca chariots

Friday, June 13, 2003 | 9:16 a.m.

A month before Congress voted to approve Yucca Mountain as the nation's burial site for nuclear waste, the Energy Department's top Yucca contractor prepared a classified report concluding that airplanes pose a potential safety risk at the site. The June 2002 report has finally come to light, as the result of a Freedom of Information request filed by the Las Vegas Sun. The request was initially rejected but released this week into the hands of Benjamin Grove, the Sun's Washington correspondent.

While the report concludes that aircraft are a danger, the degree to which they pose a risk was left for another study. But at least everyone now knows that in addition to the risks on the surface and below ground, there is risk from above. Mainly, the risk arises from the fact that Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is situated within the Nellis Air Force Range. The primary mission of Nellis Air Force Base is training pilots, who often fly with live ordnance. They use the range extensively, including the area of Yucca Mountain. Nellis spokesman Mike Estrada told Grove that planes sometimes go "right over the top" of the mountain.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., a former Air Force pilot who flew missions during the Persian Gulf War, is certain about the danger level. "This is like two trains on the same track heading directly toward each other, and you know what is going to happen. It's going to be a disaster," Gibbons told Grove. The only way to mitigate the danger, Gibbons said, would be for Nellis to draw a "vast red circle" -- a no-fly zone -- around Yucca. This, however, would severely hamper the Nellis mission, which is instrumental to national security.

Even with a no-fly zone, there is no insurance against human error. A crash or misdirected ordnance could strike the waste as it sits on the surface outside the mountain, protected only by casks that are vulnerable in the event of high-impact accidents. And there will always be waste sitting outside the mountain, as trucks or trains delivering the deadly material will outpace the staff's ability to bury it.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has the responsibility of determining Yucca's likelihood of protecting against radioactive contamination for at least the next 10,000 years, acknowledges the seriousness of the mountain's proximity to Nellis. "Clearly this is a relevant issue," a top NRC official told Grove. In our clear view, this is just one more reason, on top of many others just as relevant, to abandon Yucca Mountain. The nation's nuclear plants should continue storing their wastes on site until a correct solution can be found.