Editorial: Share Yucca facts more generously

Friday, Nov. 28, 2003 | 8:23 a.m.

If anything goes wrong after nuclear waste is entombed at Yucca Mountain, an environmental disaster bigger than anything the world has ever witnessed could be the result. We know now that the above-ground nuclear bomb blasts at the Nevada Test Site in the 1950s and early 1960s resulted in thousands of deaths from cancer. Imagine the catastrophe if Yucca Mountain were to begin leaking radiation -- radiation that would be picked up by the wind and driven toward population centers, which have a lot more people today than they did five decades ago.

Given this possible scenario, it seems to us that the Energy Department would be more scrupulous about sharing all of its Yucca Mountain research with Nevada and the multitude of scientists around the country who would eagerly provide peer reviews if asked. Instead, the Energy Department makes it difficult for anyone to access what it's learned so far. A case in point is information developed by the Energy Department that was recently reviewed by Nevada's Yucca Mountain experts. The information bears heavily on the safety of Yucca Mountain, but was received by our experts only after they had filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Plans call for extremely hot and volatile nuclear waste destined for Yucca Mountain to be sealed within metal casks. What Nevada's experts learned from the information was that the Energy Department concluded four years ago that there's a high probability of loaded and sealed casks being subjected to tremendous internal pressure, particularly if they are infiltrated by water or other liquid. The studies producing this information focused on the storage casks now in use at nuclear power plants. Nevada experts say the casks planned for Yucca Mountain, which does have some water flowing through it, are susceptible to the same pressure, which could cause a cask -- especially a corroded cask -- to burst. At the current on-site storage facilities, the casks can be monitored for dryness and any corrosion can be spotted and dealt with. What will happen if the cask s are buried and cannot be monitored?

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to receive the Energy Department's application late next year for a license to open Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository. The opening could be as early as 2010. For the sake of future generations, we hope the best scientific minds in the country have a chance to review the application -- without having to resort to the Freedom of Information Act.