NV Engineer Resigns in Protest, Sez: Bush Sidestepping Yucca MT Issue

Bush choosing to go around Yucca Mountain issue

By Paul P. Craig

May 8 - 9, 2004

Don't ask questions when you don't know the answers: That's the rule of thumb for trial lawyers who don't want courtroom surprises. The Bush administration has a different rule of thumb when it comes to the science of storing nuclear waste: Ask as few questions as possible and ignore answers you don't like.

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The board concluded that the present design for Yucca Mountain is deficient, and unless it is changed, the nation's high-level waste repository is likely to leak. Our conclusion has been ignored. For the Bush administration, the development of Yucca Mountain for nuclear storage was a foregone conclusion. The Department of Energy is spending over a half-billion dollars on Yucca this year, almost all of it for getting a license application in to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the end of 2004. The administration wants to begin construction as soon as possible and is committed to burying waste by 2010.

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In its haste to meet deadlines, the Bush administration has a pattern of putting politics ahead of science. History reveals plenty of examples of how that approach can lead to disaster. The Challenger space shuttle was lost because its O-rings froze. NASA engineers knew of the problem, but management wanted to keep the launch deadline. Last year a presidential commission concluded that the shuttle Columbia was lost for similar reasons: Management put deadlines over safety.

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But for now, there's no technical reason to rush. The urgency is entirely political. A sound repository is probably achievable, if time is taken to get the science and engineering right. Meanwhile, nuclear waste can be safely stored for many decades on site in dry casks, giving us time to find a reliable, long-term solution.

All contents copyright 2004 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/2004/may/07/516820122.html

and the people here had better wake up this time around and vote against the Bushies. I am still mortified that they won NV the last time around.