By Phoebe Sweet

Wed, Dec 5, 2007 (6:55 a.m.)

Las Vegas Sun

What's happening: A three-judge panel convenes in Vegas to determine whether the U.S. Energy Department has disclosed enough documents about the Yucca Mountain project to the public.

What it means: If ruled against, the department will not be able to proceed with its next major step: submitting an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to license the dump.

Picture this: A train carrying 60 tons of deadly nuclear waste through Las Vegas is the target of a terrorist attack. In store for the 100,000-plus Las Vegans who live within half a mile of the train's route are fire, explosions and nuclear holocaust - death within two minutes from radiation poisoning.

That was the doomsday scenario painted by opponents of plans for a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Depository during a hearing Monday in Las Vegas.

Clap, clap, clap. Cheer.

Then the nuclear energy industry got its turn to describe waste storage casks designed to withstand a 120 mph train crash, 400-degree fires, terrifying falls onto concrete or metal spikes, immersion in water.

Boo, hiss, boo.

The hearing at the Cashman Center gave more than 200 people a chance to comment on environmental reports filed by the Energy Department, including one on plans to transport spent fuel to Yucca by truck and train. And though many legitimate concerns about the safety of transporting nuclear waste by train and truck through 43 states were raised, at times the gravity of the situation was lost amid the bluster and booing.

Public meetings have too often become an opportunity for people to make statements that incite other people to shake their fists and stomp their feet.

It's the Jerry Springerization of public debate.

This meeting preceded a hearing by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission board today on a state challenge to the Energy Department's certification of document collection for its Yucca license application. And it follows years of political, environmental and health debates over the plan to dispose of the country's nuclear waste in our back yard.

So it is no wonder that people are worked up. But some of the behavior and rhetoric - the tales of death and destruction, accusations of environmental racism and Nazi tactics - potentially undermine otherwise sound arguments.

On the other side, the industry portrays nuclear waste as as safe and wholesome as apple pie.

From 3,000 to 4,000 shipments of nuclear waste have gamboled safely through the countryside while citizens peacefully slumbered, Rodney McCullum of the Nuclear Energy Institute told the crowd. He touted the power of "robust" and "vaultlike" casks in which nuclear waste destined for Yucca will be encased. Then, urging the public to do its own research and not rely on his data, he offered this inadvertent gem: "I'm from the nuclear energy industry. You shouldn't believe me."

Indeed.

Also high on the unintentional comedy hit list was Gary Duarte, director of U.S. Nuclear Energy, who claimed Yucca would become a tourist destination for scientists and nuclear engineers.

Just like Chernobyl.

Audience: Yuk, yuk, yuk.

It would even increase gaming revenue, he claimed, which is all we Nevadans care about anyway.

Not so, Gary. We care about rhinestone bustiers, poker as a sport and the authenticity of celebrity look-alike lounge singers, too.

There were comedians on both sides of the aisle.

One former employee at the Yucca project offered a smaller, more personal view from the inside.

She said the public could not trust that officials would protect thousands of Las Vegans because they couldn't even protect her.

She wasn't talking about radiation poisoning or cancer from exposure.

She was talking about carpal tunnel syndrome.