Editorial: Trains and terrorists

Thursday, March 25, 2004 | 9:16 a.m.

In defending its plan to open a burial site for high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, the Energy Department has said that trains will play a significant role in transporting the waste from its various locations around the country. Trains came into the picture after Nevada pointed out the danger of trucking the waste. The terrorist bombings of passenger trains in Madrid on March 11, however, have many elected officials in Washington admitting that train transportation is no panacea either.

At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing this week, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said, "In a lot of ways, our nation's rail infrastructure is probably as vulnerable today as it was prior to Sept. 11." The potential for terrorist attacks on waste shipments to Yucca, however, has not yet dawned on key officials within the federal bureaucracy.

Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security at the Homeland Security Department, told the committee he did not know about the number of rail shipments to Yucca Mountain or any security details. The reason he doesn't know is because the Energy Department refers to rail transportation in only the broadest of terms, without ever furnishing details.

Late next year, the Energy Department intends to apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to operate Yucca Mountain. We hope the commissioners remember that the devil is in the details.