Report on Yucca economic benefit paid for by Energy Department

Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2004 | 9:43 a.m.

A report that found the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository project will economically benefit Nevada with high-wage jobs was paid for by a $100,000 cooperative agreement grant from the Energy Department to the Harry Reid Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The Energy Department is building the nuke dump and overseeing its operation.

Keith Schwer, director of the UNLV Center for Business and Economic Research, which did the study, said the Energy Department placed no restrictions on the report's outcome as part of the economic study it funded.

"I don't operate that way," Schwer said. "I have to live here."

Schwer said the report also looked at the risks, including people initially leaving areas where the nuclear waste is transported -- a factor that could negatively affect the project's glowing economics forecast in the report.

Schwer noted his department also has done economic research studies on Yucca Mountain for Clark County and the state of Nevada. He said those agencies also placed no restrictions on the center regarding the outcome of those reports.

The state and county oppose the Yucca Mountain Project.