Letters We Get

Editor, The Nevada Observer

Saw your October 15th opinion piece on Yucca safety and radiation standards. Cutting through some of the argumentative passages I notice you said that "ground water" is already in some of the Yucca tunnels. If it is, that is a real story. The ground water (aquifer) is some 700 to 900 ft below the present tunnels I believe. You must have meant some water has seeped into the tunnels from ABOVE. Or you may have meant the condensation that occurred in one of the tunnel sections during one of the experiments... the DOE project office would know more of the details than I but, they will for certain confirm that no ground water from BELOW the tunnels has risen up to get in the tunnels. Check your facts.

Brian O'Connell P.E. Director Nuclear Waste Program Office National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners 1101 Vermont Ave. NW, Suite 200 Washington, DC 20005 (202) 898-2215 fax (202) 898-2213 boconnell@naruc.org

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Editor, The Nevada Observer

Although I could write a long essay about the misconceptions and inaccuracies in your editorial, I will restrict myself to one glaring error.

You say: "...But of course that doesn't include the fact that our government in all its shortsightedness made a contract with the nuclear power industry that the government would be responsible for all the waste. This contract was written and signed before Congress or the general public had even contemplated a nuclear waste repository...."

I suggest you read the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1983 as amended in 1987. This act, signed by President Reagan on January 7, 1983 establishes the policy that the government will be responsible for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel from the nation's commercial nuclear reactors. The government can take title to the utility's fuel only if the utility signs a contract and pays into the Nuclear Waste Fund. See Section 302 of the NWPA.

So the contract was written at the direction of Congress.

You can oppose Yucca Mountain, but please get your facts straight.

Sincerely, Bill Teer