Cask crash testing for dummies

It's nice to know that sound science will include Vince and Larry, or at least some semblance of the crash-test dummies.

By this we mean the acknowledgement this week by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that casks designed to carry nuclear waste to Nevada's Yucca Mountain will get real crash tests. So far, we've had to rely on computer simulations to tell us the casks won't leak radioactivity if a truck is in an accident or a train car derails.

So the NRC plan calls for crashing the 150-ton shipping containers at 75 mph and engulfing them in fire to see what happens. And agency officials are right when they say we'll all feel a little better about the transportation plan if we see the casks actually work.

Unfortunately, the tests don't take into account one of the main rationalizations for shipping radioactive waste across the country to the Nevada desert and the reason cited by President Bush for approving the Yucca Mountain project -terrorist threat.

Nevada opponents of the Yucca Mountain plan want the federal government to conduct more comprehensive tests, to the extent that it is determined exactly how much stress the casks will take.

Federal officials say there's no realistic scenario in which an accident could cause the casks to break, so there's no need to test them beyond the Vince and Larry demonstration.

Of course, prior to Sept. 11, 2001, there was no realistic scenario in which terrorists could hijack commercial jetliners and crash them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

If a rocket-propelled grenade - the very plentiful weapon-of-choice for many terrorists - can penetrate the armor on an M1 Abrams battle tank, what can it do to one of these casks?

If radioactive waste is unsafe at its present sites from terrorist threat - a reason cited by Bush - and needs to be herded to Nevada for safekeeping, why doesn't it need protection while en route, when it is most vulnerable?

Or maybe it was just another excuse to screw Nevada.