Thursday, August 12, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Kerry vows to fight Yucca plan

Democrat says he will ask international experts to solve nuclear waste issue

Presidential candidate John Kerry talks about health care issues on Wednesday at Valley View Recreation Center in Henderson. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

John Kerry said Wednesday that if elected president he'd do everything possible to halt the Yucca Mountain project, including withdrawing any licensing application that might be submitted for the project by the Bush administration to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Kerry spoke about Yucca Mountain for half of a 30-minute roundtable with six Nevada journalists after his health care meeting with seniors at the Valley View Recreation Center in Henderson.

"It's a serious promise," Kerry said.

The Democratic presidential candidate said he isn't concerned about pressure from the nuclear power industry or from other states -- including his home state of Massachusetts -- which have nuclear generators and waste stored on site.

"I know how to stand up to pressure," Kerry said.

Republicans have criticized Kerry's record on the issue because of several procedural votes over the years and, notably, a 1987 vote that made Yucca Mountain the only site for study as a potential repository.

"My vote in 1987 is the only substantive vote and that vote called for study," Kerry said of the votes highlighted by the Republicans. "We were presuming at that point in time though that they were going to do a safe analysis."

Kerry voted against interim storage in the 1990s and voted with Nevada in 2002 when Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was approved by the Bush administration for storing waste.

"My opposition has been on the basis of the analysis that has come back," Kerry said.

He said information he has learned in recent years leads him to believe geological burial of nuclear waste might not ever be possible.

"The more I have looked at the issue, the more I have learned about it, the less safe, the less comfortable I am with the possibility," Kerry said. "There's nothing yet that suggests to me it's fail-safe. I'm not prepared to go shut it into some place anywhere. Not just Yucca Mountain, anywhere."

Kerry announced Tuesday that he would create a panel of international experts to explore how to dispose of nuclear waste.

"I think there's an enormous potential for science to find something," Kerry said.

"I'm convinced we can come out of this with a much stronger counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, pro-environmental solution and that's what I'm going to do," he said.

Kerry said his two cabinet secretaries that would have Yucca oversight in some way -- Energy and Interior -- "will both be highly versed in these kinds of issues and will be strong managers to lead this country in a more thoughtful approach."

Asked how he would act under pressure from other states or industry groups, the Massachusetts senator said, "I've been there for 20 years. Look at my votes and you'll see I don't vote with them. I haven't voted for things that empower them to do things contrary to the public interest."

Kerry said he hopes to "translate pressure" into a solution for his panel of experts and plans to work with the nuclear industry to find a solution.

"I will sit at the table with them; talk to them; figure out what we're going to do, but we're not going to do (Yucca Mountain)."

"It ain't ready for prime time," he said.

On Tuesday, nuclear industry experts and other critics scoffed at Kerry's plans for Yucca Mountain, saying the parcel is the most studied piece of land on the planet. Rigorous independent reviews of the licensing process remain, they said, and deep geologic storage has been determined to be the safest route possible. The Bush-Cheney campaign accused Kerry of playing the issue in Nevada for its electoral votes.

During Wednesday's interview Kerry said all of the health care and education proposals he mentioned during his Tuesday rally at the Thomas & Mack Center could be funded by repealing tax cuts for the wealthiest 1.5 percent of Americans and by closing what he called tax loopholes.

Kerry said his health care plan would cost about $600 billion and increasing grants to college students and other educational programs would cost $300 billion.

"I'm not pretending it's for free," he said. "I'm not pretending that there aren't choices here. If you want health care, if you want to pay for special needs education, if you want No Child Left Behind fully funded, I have a way to do it."

Kerry said he opposed the way Bush has handled homeland security, from its inception to the current threat reporting system,.

Kerry said his administration will re-evaluate the threat reporting system, but he did not say he would scrap the color-coded method of raising and lowering the terror alerts.

He also promised a return trip to Las Vegas, a future trip to Northern Nevada and a visit to the state by vice presidential candidate John Edwards.

"I'll be back," he concluded, mimicking Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator character.