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December 2, 2009

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Letter: ‘Bunker busters’ could do more damage at home

Thursday, May 15, 2003 | 9:23 a.m.

As Congress prepares to approve development of mini-nuclear weapons, or "bunker busters" as they've come to be called, we need to reflect on the fact that these weapons are designed to penetrate and destroy bunkers as deep as 1,000 feet down into the earth. Does the figure of 1,000 feet ring a bell?

Yes, it's the depth at which the nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain would be buried.

Putting a few of these mini-nukes on a small aircraft and dropping them over Yucca Mountain could be accomplished with little difficulty. Before we too enthusiastically support development of these weapons, we need to consider how easily they could be used against us.

RON BOURGOIN Editor's note: Ron Bourgoin was a consultant to the town of Rolesville in Wake County, N.C., in 1984 when a site in that area was being considered by the Energy Department as a potential high-level radioactive waste repository.

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