Letter: Nuclear dump’s huge risks, costs outweigh benefits

Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2004 | 8:59 a.m.

It's not surprising that the report by UNLV citing the economic benefits of the proposed Yucca Mountain project for Southern Nevada should have concluded what it did. That's because the report was commissioned and paid for by the Energy Department's Yucca Mountain Project.

Numerous studies done by the state of Nevada and Clark County have shown that the economic downside of Yucca Mountain has the potential to dwarf any economic benefits that might be associated with the project. Not surprisingly, the findings from state and county research were not factored into the UNLV study.

As was correctly pointed out in your Feb. 2 article, impacts to economic diversification as well as to the Southern Nevada tourism industry could be substantial if Yucca Mountain goes forward. An accident in or near Las Vegas could result in billions of dollars in negative economic impacts, while impacts to property values along likely nuclear waste transportation routes could range between $5.6 billion and $8.8 billion in Clark County alone.

The number of jobs and the amount of revenue Yucca would generate for Southern Nevada are small, almost insignificant, percentages of the overall Clark County labor market and overall Southern Nevada economy. Yet the risks posed by the project for Las Vegas and the state are mind-boggling.

There's a reason why no other state in the nation wants the high-level nuclear waste repository and why the federal government is trying so hard to force it on Nevada. The costs and risks vastly outweigh any transitory benefits.

JOSEPH C. STROLIN Editor's note: Joseph C. Strolin is the Planning Division administrator for the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects.