Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

'No nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain'

Kerry pledges panel of experts will study issue

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, wave to a partisan crowd as confetti falls Tuesday night at the Thomas & Mack Center. Kerry gave a 30-minute speech to more than 12,000 people. Photo by John Locher. Kyra Stenroos, 7, shows her support for John Kerry at the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus. Earlier Tuesday, Kerry pledged that, if he is elected, "there's going to be no nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain." Photo by Isaac Brekken/Review-Journal.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry urged the Bush administration Tuesday to halt the licensing process for the Yucca Mountain Project, telling an audience he would establish a blue-ribbon panel of experts to recommend how to best store and dispose of the nation's nuclear waste.

At a Las Vegas middle school, Kerry reaffirmed a pledge he made in May when he visited Las Vegas that, if he is elected, "there's going to be no nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain."

He repeated the message at an evening rally before an estimated crowd of more than 12,000 people at the Thomas & Mack Center, where he touched on themes he has been taking to battleground states across the country. His half-hour speech highlighted his plans to help the middle class, implement a renewable energy policy and increase financial help for college students.

Earlier, at Cadwallader Middle School, he offered details for the first time about what he would do as president to ensure Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, would not become home to the nation's most lethal nuclear waste.

He received a warm reception from the 75 people who were screened and selected by the campaign to be at the event, which was closed to the public. But nuclear industry backers and other officials scoffed at his strategy, saying it could backfire on him and that he was playing the issue for votes.

Kerry proposed leaving the waste at 139 sites across the country, where it could be guarded by those who already are supposed to be protecting nuclear plants against terrorist attacks.

His strategy would initiate a National Academy of Sciences study to examine geologic disposal as opposed other options such as long-term on-site storage or some other technology.

And Kerry likened his proposed blue-ribbon panel to the Manhattan Project, whose work led to creation of the first nuclear weaponry. He suggested his panel would have a "reverse" mission.

"We need a Manhattan Project that learns how to tame the negative consequences of that power of the atom, and we need to bring the world together to do it," Kerry said. "If we did a better job of showing that we want to do that, rather than going down the road of creating the next new nuclear weapon for bunker busting purposes, we'd do a lot better job of sending a message to Iran and to North Korea and to the rest of the world that the United States is serious about living in a non-nuclear world."

Nuclear industry officials were critical of Kerry's call to President Bush to hold off on a license application.

"Instead of taking action to move this federal project forward after 20 years and $8 billion of peer-review science, John Kerry is digging a hole for himself among some 30 states that are awaiting opening of a federal repository," said Angelina Howard, executive vice president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry's lobbying arm.

Howard noted that Yucca Mountain "is the most studied piece of land on the planet" and that studies on how to dispose of the nation's spent nuclear fuel and where to put it have eclipsed five presidents, including eight years of the Clinton administration.

"It's necessary and appropriate that the Energy Department continue with its preparation of the license application, which will then undergo rigorous independent reviews and evidentiary hearings before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission," Howard said by telephone. "If it doesn't stand the test of the NRC, it wouldn't go forward."

But Nevada's lead nuclear waste lawyer, Joe Egan, said it would be simple for a victorious Kerry to halt the license application.

"Just tell the secretary of energy not to submit it," Egan said.

Even if the Bush administration manages to meet its target date to submit an application in December after the election, which Egan doubts can be done, then he said Kerry could instruct his energy secretary to withdraw the application.

Robert List, a former Nevada governor who is a Nuclear Energy Institute consultant, said there is nothing innovative about Kerry's plan for derailing the Yucca Mountain Project. Two decades of studies point to deep, geologic storage "as the safest and best way to do it," List said.

"The bottom line is he's clearly playing politics to get Nevada's electoral votes. He's trying to turn a scientific decision into a political one and I think the people of Nevada will see right through it."

The White House referred calls about Kerry's comments to the Bush-Cheney campaign. The Department of Energy did not return calls.

Tracey Schmitt, regional spokeswoman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, also said Kerry was playing politics.

"That's political rhetoric 80-something days from an election," Schmitt said. "President Bush has always said the decision should be based on science, not politics. We need to keep science at the center of the debate."

Asked about the proposals Kerry made, Schmitt said, "This is an issue that has been researched for over 20 years."

Kerry discussed portions of that research, referencing reports by the General Accounting Office, independent scientists and the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, all suggesting scientific flaws in the Yucca Mountain Project.

"If that ain't scary, I don't know what is," Kerry said after quoting from one GAO report.

He expressed concern about seismic activity, untested transportation canisters and the potential for contamination of the water supply in Nye County's Amargosa Valley.

Kerry worked to appeal Nevada's issue to a national audience as he looked out at national press traveling with him.

"This is not just a Nevada issue," Kerry said. "This is not just about Yucca Mountain. This is about America."

Kerry said the Bush administration "has pursued a relentless, purposeful policy to push the science no matter what the science says."

He said the country "deserves a president who believes in science. It's not just the science of Yucca Mountain, it's the science of global warming, it's the science of stem-cell research and the possibility of the future."

Prior to the event, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Kerry has been on Nevada's side whenever the issue was critical, recounting the statement Bush issued during the 2000 campaign that a decision on Yucca Mountain would be based on "sound science, not politics." Democrats have long criticized that statement as empty rhetoric.

Reid also defended Kerry on the six votes he has taken over the past 16 years that were different than his own on Yucca Mountain, including Kerry's 1987 vote for the so-called "Screw Nevada" bill. The appropriations bill had language added in conference committee to narrow repository study to Yucca Mountain only, from a list of three sites.

"President Bush and his people are of course saying anything that they can, because Bush has been a total flop," Reid said. "He misled the people of Nevada, and he lied to the people of Nevada."

Kerry also addressed the Bush-Cheney accusations about his Yucca Mountain record. Kerry said he has voted with Nevada "when it has counted on real votes."

Kerry voted against interim storage in the 1990s and voted in 2002 to sustain Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of Bush's designation of Yucca as the repository.

National Academy of Sciences officials who deal with Yucca Mountain issues could not be reached late Tuesday for comment on Kerry's plan.

Candice Trummell, vice chairwoman of the Nye County Commission, said she was dismayed the Kerry camp didn't allow her to listen to his talk Tuesday afternoon.

"The entire event was orchestrated to keep other voices out and only hear one side of the story," Trummell said.

The Nye County Commission passed a resolution last month that was more supportive of the Yucca Mountain Project.

"My concern, of course, is Yucca Mountain is in Nye County, not Clark County and the first responders are going to come from Nye County," she said.