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Nevada Senator Harry Reid makes a compelling case for a unified western states effort to stop the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage project near Las Vegas. Most persuasive is the idea that scuttling Yucca Mountain would eliminate the need for a “temporary” storage site for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel rods on the Goshute Reservation in Utah’s Skull Valley.
Reid favors storing nuclear waste on-site near the reactors where it is produced. He’ll soon introduce legislation to make that possible. His proposal demands the support of Utah’s full congressional delegation!
It is becoming clearer each day that Yucca is a seriously flawed project and a wasteful sieve for taxpayer dollars. Recent allegations of falsified scientific documents will only hasten the eventual demise of the ill-fated facility. And unless a long-term alternative is found, anything “temporary” at Skull Valley could easily become permanent. Besides, for the dangerous waste to get to Yucca, or Skull Valley, it would have be transported across the nation, and as Reid pointed out recently in Salt Lake City, the American people won’t stand for moving it.
This is an issue where Utah’s political leaders need to present a unified front…and the position they ought to get behind is the one being put forth by Nevada Senator Harry Reid.
