Letter: Nevada should not repeat nuclear mistake

Saturday, Dec. 8, 2007 | 7:26 a.m.

In response to Thursday's letter from Tom Keller, who disparages Nevada's fight against the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear storage facility, let's take another look at nuclear storage in the past.

Has he heard about Hanford, Wash., the storage site that is still leaking from the spent fuels stored there in the '50s? Has he heard about Fernald, Ohio, the site of the nuclear Feed Materials Plant, which made the fuel rods for reactors and for nuclear weapons? Fernald elected to bury its waste on-site, and guess what happened? The waste from the site leaked into the groundwater.

We already have paid our dues to the nuclear industry through our Nevada Test Site, which is still a radioactive hazard. Nevada cannot afford to have yet another nuclear mess dumped on it and that mess placed in a geologically questionable site, which may very well leak into our groundwater. The very idea that this site will be a benefit to Nevada boggles the mind! Oh, before I forget, Hanford's waste is intended for storage at Yucca Mountain also.

How do I know all this? I worked at Fernald in the '50s and was part of a class action suit, which we won, against the Atomic Energy Commission.

Denise Kelley, Las Vegas

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