Letter: Let sound science dictate longer Yucca standard

Friday, Nov. 26, 2004 | 8:40 a.m.

Now is the time for the Bush administration to use sound science in judging whether Yucca Mountain should be opened as a nuclear waste repository. The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act was written to protect the environment. In the years 1998-1999 this was violated when it was determined by Congress, not scientists, that man-made, engineered barriers would be allowable in protecting the environment. Prior to that decision, nuclear waste burial was permissible only if geologic barriers, such as those provided by Yucca Mountain, would be sufficient to protect against the waste.

Now is not the time to change the rules again. The Bush administration must not allow Congress to throw out the provision that requires Yucca Mountain's radiation standard to be in line with findings by the National Academy of Science. The Academy said Yucca Mountain would need to protect against radiation for several hundred thousand years. The mountain is being built, however, to be protective for only 10,000 years. A federal appeals court confirmed this fact, which could be a showstopper. Building anything that could be protective for several hundred thousand years is likely impossible.

If Congress does change the provision, and passes a bill allowing a 10,000-year radiation standard, President Bush should veto it. He has, after all, promised to base his decisions on sound science, and not political expediency.

FRANK PERNA

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