Letter: Shipping plans deserve praise

Monday, Dec. 13, 2004 | 8:54 a.m.

Your Dec. 7 article headlined, "Panel: Yucca transportation plan flawed," emphasized some of the points raised by the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board in a recent letter to Energy Department managers of the Yucca Mountain repository project.

Neither the meeting of the board held in Salt Lake City, to which the letter refers, or the letter itself was as negative as your article infers.

I was at the meeting and it appeared to me that the board was generally pleased with what was discussed and, yes, they were "concerned" with budget and schedules, as are many within and outside the federal government.

For balance, you might also have quoted this from the letter: "The board commends the Energy Department on its effort in developing a systematic approach to transportation planning."

A lot of detailed transportation planning remains to be done, but as the president of a waste shipping company pointed out in your article, there is time to get those things done and it appears that the Energy Department recognizes the value in coordinating their planning with states and other stakeholders.

BRIAN O'CONNELL

Editor's note: Brian O'Connell directs the Nuclear Waste Program Office of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, a group that has supported the Yucca Mountain project.