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Editorial: Yucca word games

Monday, Jan. 24, 2005 | 8:57 a.m.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Samuel Bodman is President Bush's choice to replace Spencer Abraham as secretary of the Energy Department. During a confirmation hearing last week, Bodman said he would "see to it that we follow through on Yucca Mountain."

Previously, Bodman was deputy commerce secretary and before that he served in executive positions in private corporations. He hasn't had any experience dealing with Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, where the federal government wants to bury the deadly waste from nuclear power plants.

Bodman should understand that President Bush has promised that "sound science" and the courts will determine whether Yucca Mountain ultimately opens. There are numerous scientific questions that have not been answered about the mountain's suitability, and a federal court has ruled that the Energy Department has not met a key safety standard in designing the burial vaults.

A proper "follow through" would mean undertaking thorough, peer-reviewed scientific analyses and a total redesign. We hope that's what Bodman meant, and that he's not intending simply more administrative and political maneuvering by the Energy Department. Time will tell.

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