It's another election year so we can expect to be bombarded with the good old anti-Yucca Mountain rhetoric in both the broadcast and print media.
But here are some facts on the project. All the work to date at the site indicates the site will be found suitable. The politicians don't care about Yucca Mountain, unless it's time to pick up the anti-Yucca Mountain football and run with it for some nice sound bites and press coverage.
Back in the '70s, Senator Bryan supported nuclear waste storage at the test site. Back in the '70s, there was an editorial by the Las Vegas Sun that said nuclear waste storage deserved to be studied and how then Governor Mike O'Callaghan asked that the state be considered as a possible storage site.
The fact of the matter is we have the highly skilled workers to complete this project safely. The repository is a perfect fit for the test site as it searches for new missions. Yucca Mountain is in a secure remote area. It's in an arid environment with no chance of water coming in contact with the waste. We've successfully managed nuclear projects out there since the 1950s - bring this on because we will manage this well too.
I think our elected officials are missing the boat on how we could take advantage of the economic development spinoffs of the repository project. Our university system could benefit. The DOE already provides most of the research dollars going to the university system.
Most of the politicians have said "let science" decide this issue. I agree, but when the site suitability decision comes out, I want the politicians to stand by real science and not political science.
FORREST DARBY
Las Vegas
