Editorial: Another Yucca danger

Monday, Aug. 8, 2005 | 8:49 a.m.

In June 2002 the Energy Department received from its top contractor, Bechtel SAIC Co., a classified report titled, "Identification of Aircraft Hazards." The document was declassified a year later, after the Sun's Washington reporter, Benjamin Grove, heard about it and requested a copy. The report concerned Yucca Mountain's proximity to Nellis Air Force Range. At the time, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will eventually rule on whether Yucca is safe for licensing, was studying the document's contents. "Clearly this is a relevant issue," a top NRC analyst told Grove.

Last week the NRC released its conclusions about armed Nellis warplanes training so close to the nation's proposed dump for high-level nuclear waste. It said the Energy Department, in planning for Yucca Mountain, failed to properly consider risk factors involving Nellis and its training flights. It did not accurately count the number of plane crashes in the vicinity of Yucca during the last decade, nor did it consider the possibilities associated with stray ordnance striking the waste facility, the NRC concluded.

The Energy Department put a positive spin on the report, saying that it will work with NRC officials and provide them "with enough information to fully allay their concerns." The bottom line, though, is that the department has been building a facility to contain the world's deadliest material for over a decade, and never concerned itself with hazards from Nellis' planes. That doesn't exactly allay our concerns.