More sound science?

Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced its radiation health standard for the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. The standard itself sounds innocuous, setting the radiation level at 15 millirems — about equivalent to an X-ray — a year for the first 10,000 years of the project.

But Americans should have no confidence in that standard or in the Energy Department’s plan to build a dump that can meet the standard. The Yucca Mountain project, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has been a failure, and this standard shows how politics — not science — have prevailed.

For example, the standard comes four years after a federal court ordered the EPA to set a new standard, after tossing out the previous one because it failed to pass scientific muster. This revision seems to be nothing more than a warmed over version of what the court and the scientific community dismissed.

What may be more astounding is that the standard comes four months after the Energy Department submitted its application to build the nuclear waste dump to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Shouldn’t the Energy Department have waited to see the final standard it is supposed to meet before applying?

It is no wonder Nevadans think the fix is in. After all, the federal government has consistently changed standards and regulations to fit its needs because it has failed to provide any sound science, as President Bush once promised, to prove the viability of the plan.

As well, the Energy Department has yet to adequately answer critical questions such as how it will safely transport at least 77,000 tons of deadly waste across the country. That’s vitally important considering nearly 40 percent of the population lives within five miles of the proposed routes.

The bottom line is this: The Energy Department has spent more than 25 years and $13.5 billion on the project and has only a hole in the ground — and a track record of shoddy work — to show for it.

Disgraceful.