Editorial: Insecure about security

Wednesday, April 21, 2004 | 8:46 a.m.

The general public is not alone in being in the dark about plans to secure nuclear waste if Yucca Mountain opens and shipments begin from all parts of the country. The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board is finding itself in the same position. This is the board created by the federal government in 1987 to review all Energy Department plans regarding the disposal of nuclear waste, including plans for packaging and transporting the waste.

On Monday, Mark Abkowitz, a member of the review board, attended a meeting held by the Nevada Legislature's Committee on High-Level Radioactive Waste. In answer to questions, he said he was not sure if the Energy Department has "fully explored" ways that terrorists could attack the shipments. Asked whether the Energy Department had planned for a "worst-case scenario," Abkowitz said, "We don't know."

The Energy Department is pushing for a 2010 opening of Yucca Mountain. An Energy Department representative, J. Gary Lanthrum, also at the meeting, failed to dispel our apprehensions when he responded, "We're still a ways from the first shipment," and that security measures are "not set in stone." Such evasive answers to life-and-death questions are why Nevada is fighting so hard against Yucca Mountain.