Sun Editorial:

‘Mighty expensive dinosaur’

Some members of Congress may not like it, but nuclear dump plan in Nevada deserves to be killed

Monday, June 8, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

Some of the folks in the House of Representatives who are responsible for overseeing how much money is spent on the Yucca Mountain project are none too happy with President Barack Obama’s plan to kill the multibillion-dollar boondoggle.

The Las Vegas Sun’s Lisa Mascaro reported last week that members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development expressed frustration and outrage about Yucca Mountain’s fate as Energy Secretary Steven Chu appeared before the committee Wednesday.

“We got a mighty expensive dinosaur out there,” Rep. Marion Berry, D-Ark., said about the project 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. “It seems an awful shame to me we spent that money. I know folks in Nevada don’t like it, but sometimes things happen in Arkansas that I don’t like.”

Sure, the Yucca Mountain project is a “mighty expensive dinosaur,” but that’s precisely what Nevada’s elected officials warned the federal government that it ultimately would have on its hands if it pursued the madness of building the dump. But members of Congress and a number of presidents were hell-bent on pushing this dump through despite this state’s objections that Yucca Mountain, in an active earthquake zone, would be a geologic nightmare as a place to bury man’s deadliest waste.

Another committee member, Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho, wasn’t pleased that the Obama administration wants to form a commission to look at alternatives to storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

“I find it amazing that the committee’s going to look at a geologic repository but the one geologic repository we’re not going to look at ... is Yucca Mountain,” Simpson said. “To me it’s more politics than science.”

First of all, it wasn’t Nevadans who introduced politics into this process. That was seen back as far as 1987 when Congress decided, for purely political reasons, to study only Yucca Mountain, not three sites in the country as had been planned. Is it any wonder Nevadans dubbed this legislation the “Screw Nevada Bill”?

It’s not Nevada’s fault Congress set up a tainted process to decide where to store 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste. Their protests to the contrary, it’s obvious some members of the House committee who hold the purse strings of the Yucca Mountain project are taken aback at seeing a president stand by his commitment to do what’s scientifically right — no matter the political consequences.

Discussion: 14 comments so far…

By Future

6/8/09 at 5:45 a.m.

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At last the LV Sun has finally admitted that this is purely a political decision which is contray to current law and will doom in America the best greenhouse friendly power source.

So why is Obama telling Iran they can go nuclear without any waste dump planned - and America can not build any more nuclear plants.

I thought we are concerned about global warming.

What is the deal about wasting another $200 million on the LA for Yucca Mountain.

It will only show how safe Yucca is for a repository.

Where in the budget is the $30 billion that Obama and Harry Reid need to give back to the electric nuclear power ratepayers.

Where is the change to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act?

When it suit them, Obama and Harry Reid have no problem violating the law - the NWPA

In the proposed 2010 budget "The President, however, has made clear that the Nation needs a better solution than the proposed Yucca Mountain repository.

Such a solution must be based on sound science and capable of securing broad support, including support from those ["those who" means Harry Reid'em and weep] who live in areas that might be affected by the solution.

As the LV Sun points out - so much for Obama's good science over politics
By El_Lobo

6/8/09 at 7:23 a.m.

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The Yucca Mt. project has been largely political from day #1. It really doesn't matter which party in in control of Congress and the White House....

Numerous studies have been done concerning the safety of Yucca Mt. as a waste dump site and most of those studies bring up several questions concerning the safety of the area as a long term answer to what we should do with our nuclear waste... In other words, Yucca Mt. is not the answer when it comes to storing nuclear waste.

Yucca Mountain is located in an active earthquake zone, and to store nuclear waste there would be a geologic nightmare. Obama is on the right track with his decision to shut down Yucca Mt. as the nation's dump site...

I've lived in the Las Vegas area for over thirty years and I don't believe Nevada should be the dump site for the nation's nuclear waste. Have each state store their own or find a few other places that are suitable for massive storage. Several states have shown great interest in being the location for a national dump site....

Let's put it where it's wanted.....it's not wanted in the Silver State.
By neiman1

6/8/09 at 8:18 a.m.

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Would the residents of Nevada have a different opinion if the state treasury was just paid a Billion a year to have it here? Maybe that's the solution. Provide the money the state wants to spend in exchange for allowing the dump.
By bag

6/8/09 at 5:17 p.m.

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I'm waiting for the day when El Lobo says something that is both technically correct and relevant. El Lobo is actually correct about Yucca being in an active earthquake zone -- so is Las Vegas and the Strip. All of the those highrise hotels are located in a very active zone -- I never hear Nevada pols worrying about that. The truth of the matter is there is no comparing the risk between a highrise building or for that matter your home and the much lower risk of earthquakes to the repository at Yucca Mountain. Underground facilities are not affected by earth movement they roll with the movement. Properly engineered surface facilities (ie Strip Casinos) do well too, but create a much greater risk to human safety. Please people put things in perspective. The scientist at Yucca have very carefully studied the faults in the region working with local experts from the University system and have designed the facility accordingly. I would be glad to discuss this in greater detail if neccessary.

I just wish we could talk about the real issues and not the make believe "Greenspun Issues." While the Greenspun family wastes millions of gallons of water keeping thier massive home lawns green they chase after phony environmental issues. While they build a giant neighborhood with a railroad spur going thru it (just today I was stopped by a train on Arroyo Grande in Green Valley -- its cargo included doxens of sulphuric acid, sodium hydroxide and chlorine tankers) and they talk out of the side of their mouths about the danger of Yucca shipments (which will travel by rail from Caliente around the northern side of the range complex and never come within 100 miles of Vegas). Amazing.
By El_Lobo

6/8/09 at 6:26 p.m.

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bag said:

"I'm waiting for the day when El Lobo says something that is both technically correct and
and relevant. El Lobo is actually correct about Yucca being in an active earthquake zone -- so is Las Vegas and the Strip....."

I believe "bag" is talking just to be talking....but what's new? He does that all the time.

He says that he's waiting for me to say something that is both "technically correct and revelent" and then says I am correct about Yucca being in an active earthquake zone.

Did "bag" just contradict himself? Sure appears that way....the statement about Yucaa being in an earthquake zone is both "technically correct & revelent."

Oh well, I'll let "bag" off the hook this time around. That is, despite the fact that his long drawn out rant about the Greenspun family is far from technical or revelent......

I wonder who died and make "bag" the only knowledgable and technically correct poster on this board?????
By Metman

6/8/09 at 9:09 p.m.

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Umm..El Lobo...you constantly misstate facts, quote mythical sources and flat out lie.

Are you in fact Harry Reid hiding behind a pen name?

Quick: Which New York Kennedy and part time girl friend to Arthur "Pinchy" Sulzbergerwas was supposed to be the new great senator from New York?! Too hard to spell? OK which war did we already lose (but not really now that Obama is on the hook?)

Did you really say the Begin was a terrorist recently? On TV?

Ha..or are you Reid's fact checker maybe, yes?

By the way, there are over a million documents in the publicly available docket before the NRC regarding the Yucca Mountain Project.

Which ones are you referring to that state "to store nuclear waste there would be a geologic nightmare."... which geologists take that position?

Do you have any actual names?

Here is a link to a real document done by actual scientists that covers geological, hydrological, meteorological, biological and other relevant issues.

http://ymp.gov/feis_2/summary/indexsum.h...

Lets see some links to work done by actual scientists that back up your (and Harry Reid's) positions. Still looking? Pretty thin pickings I know.

Look under uuhhnnaahhh! in Google..

I think you work for Reid as a fact checker...don't you El Lobo.

Oh well, out of work for in 2010!
By El_Lobo

6/8/09 at 9:46 p.m.

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Metman..... Its sure is nice of you to come to the aid of "bag" man. You right-wingers are becoming so few in numbers these days that you are doing the right thing....sticking together.

Your statement that I "constantly misstate facts, quote mythical sources and flat out lie...' is beyond funny.

No, I don't work for Harry.... I just vote for him every six years. Looks as if I'm going to have the opportunity to vote for two Reid's come November of 2010. That will be great. Harry winning his 5th senate race and his son, Rory, winning the governor's race....that should get some real national attention!

Please rant on & on, & on, & on concerning Yucca Mt. I love to hear your greatly incoherent argument concerning Yucca Mt. Of course, I hope you realize that your talking just to be talking (hmmmmm.....that's what your buddy "bag" man does...). Obama is going to kill the Yucca Mt. project.....darn that Obama....darn that Reid...

Thanks for all that wonderful information concerning Yucca Mt. I'll forward it to Harry's office. I'm sure it will change his mind...don't you?

Well, its time to move on and discuss things that haven't already been decided....Don't believe everything you read.......you can read? Right?
By Metman

6/9/09 at 4:46 a.m.

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I see you still have no sources. (Nor a coherent argument)

I'm sure what I wrote is confusing to you because the gist of the matter is when you make a claim directed toward people who can read and actually think for themselves, they weigh such things as "evidence".

You seem to more comfortable in the realm of hyperbole and vague ramblings, no doubt made much easier after following your hero Harry the Great!

Hurray for El Lobo and his hero "Hands Up" Harry Reid!

So Good luck, maybe you can get the rest of the clan to run what's left of the Nevada economy into the ground and enjoy this near 10% unemployment!

There are perhaps others reading who may want to consider the merits of El Lobo/Harry Reid's positions...and vote for a change in 2010.
By El_Lobo

6/9/09 at 9:56 a.m.

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Metman...

I see that what I said went right over your head. The decision concerning Yucca Mt. has been made. It's dead in the water. Why continue to kick an old dead horse? Move on......

I say this despite the fact that I realize that moving on goes against a right-wingers approach to most things....They live in the past. They refuse to accept change. They look upon progress as a dirty word....They're extremely happy when they're marching backwards...

I'm reminded of what Woodrow Wilson said about conservatives:

"A Conservative is a man who sits and thinks, sits and thinks, but mostly sits..."
By bag

6/9/09 at 2:49 p.m.

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El Lobo: I happen to be a Democrat. Sorry that you can't deal with the fact that Metman and others like to form opinions based on solid science. I've noticed your tendency to resort to name calling when you lose a technical argument. Grow up.
By Metman

6/9/09 at 11:17 p.m.

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It's natural that some think that the project for dealing with nuclear waste is "dead". Harry Reid says so--so it must be true, right?

The difficulty is, there is this law, that is still the law of the land, and the waste must still be dealt with and the administration, still in power now, will not be one day. And guess what?

The license is still before the NRC as the law stipulates it must be.

So believe what you like, but only time will tell the outcome, and in this matter the repository has a much longer life span than any of us arguing about it.

About the half life of several very troublsome materials, that will still need a home anywhere from 220,000 years to 2 million years.

That's longer than Harry's tenure under any circumstances.

I guess I'll accept the right winger label that El Lobo is so fond of lobbying about. You can draw your own conclusions as to what he is... : )
By Kashmere1

6/10/09 at 8:27 a.m.

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Dear Metman and Bag,

I am a green liberal. And I need to teach you all a lesson. The First Amendment grants us the Freedom of Speech to express our opinions and beliefs. This is what makes America great.

Note however, it does not require us to be educated in science or math in any manner. This is why we can say things about the "dangers" of Yucca Mountain, without providing any facts, evidence, or data that is backed by any respectable community of scientists or engineers. Fear is a powerful tool.

I suspect there will always be an El Lobo and Senator Reid in every State who will defeat the potential of a repository. Meanwhile, they have no problem relying upon nuclear to power their homes and political platforms. Or worst yet, sucking up the tons of pollution generated by coal plants every year into their lungs.

Yes, us liberals can respond that renewables, solar, and wind mills will be our salvation to coal and nuclear. But again, the science and math does not back up these ideas as being tenable and economical in the next two decades, to meet the huge energy demands of Nevada and the U.S.

I only have one question left with Yucca being dead. What is the Sun going to rally against now? Are they going to choose something that really affects Nevadans, or something else. They have done a fine job in protecting Nevadans from the "dangers" of a nuclear dump in the highly populated desert.

Perhaps newspaper ink causes cancer, or reading online will make us go blind?

The fear mongering issues are unlimited when you can skip the need for real facts, evidence, or data.

The Freedom of Speech protects the uneducated and hypocrisy as well.
By El_Lobo

6/10/09 at 7:47 p.m.

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As I mentioned several times before.....In my opinion, it's time to move on when it comes to discussion of the dump site. The issue is pretty much dead in the water.. Yucca Mt., as a repository, is last week's news.

I find it hard to believe that Kashmere1 is actually a "green liberal," but stranger things have taken place. He/she doesn't sound like any liberal that I have ever known.....but each to their own....

I have no real problem with the use of nuclear power in areas where a majority of the people desire it. I'm just against the storage of the waste here in Nevada...I'm sure there's better places to store it... That's been most of my argument....

The fact that we are tied to an energy policy that refuses to move away from our dependence on fossil fuels shows how behind the times we are when compared with many other nations of the world.

The fact we import approximately 70% of the oil they we use is not only very poor public policy, but it puts us between a rock & a hard place in terms of national security...

A war in the Middle East, many times larger than what is going on in Iraq, would simply shut down our economy. Given the current state of the economy handed to us by the last cowboy who lived in the White House, such a situation would be devastation at its worst...

Sooner or later (hopefully sooner....) we will firmly embrace a national policy stressing the use of renewable energy, and we will decrease our dependence on fossil fuels......particularly foreign oil.

It's a shame that we're not currently the world leader in the development of alternative renewable energy......

Hopefully we haven't lost our ability to build a better mouse trap....
By Metman

6/11/09 at 3:03 a.m.

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About 1976 I was employed at a research facility outside Boston. My roommate was attending MIT as a nuclear engineer to be. We discussed nuclear power then and he told me it was a great way to go if we could solve the waste problem. That was about 34 years ago. Yucca Mountain was brought up often in the mid 80's in discussions I had with others in the scientific community, always very respectfully, it was talked about in the same way as we might talk about the space program. Then the studies were started, papers were done, engineering was done and laws were put in place and processes were adopted.

But always, politics were just behind the curtain as they are in most major decisions.

I remain convinced after many years of thought, reading and review, that nuclear power is safe, necessary and viable. I also know that the waste problem has to be addressed, and I now know that the science has addressed most of the serious issues regarding storage at Yucca Mountain.

But the politics which remain are the problem. We adopt a nimby frame of mind while disavowing any serious approach to solving the problem. Repeating 30 years of work elsewhere is not an answer. A referral to another congressional committee is not an answer. El Lobo's thoughts are representative of that attitude as far as I see it. I think it a moral failing on this generation to not take responsibility to solve this problem, and as stated previously I feel confident that Yucca Mountain is a good solution.

I find Senator Reid to be the worst type of elected official for playing off irrational fears for political purpose.

I will work hard to help remove him from office in the next election, even though I've never volunteered to be active in the elcection process before. I urge others to volunteer as well.

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