Editorial: Optimism surfaces on trial balloon

Nevadans have reason to be cautiously optimistic after Energy Secretary Bill Richardson floated a nuclear waste trial balloon before Congress on Thursday. In return for keeping nuclear waste stored at nuclear power plants scattered around the nation, the Energy Department would assume legal title and the management responsibility for the waste until a permanent home is found.

Unfortunately for Nevada the only place the Energy Department is considering for a permanent repository is Yucca Mountain, located outside of Las Vegas. But that scientific investigation isn't expected to be completed until 2001, so impatient members of Congress who have nuclear power plants in their states are trying to get nuclear waste immediately stored at the Nevada Test Site.

While Nevada has serious objections to the quality of the Energy Department's work at Yucca Mountain, the more pressing concern has been Congress' attempts to short-circuit the process by creating a "temporary" dump. Nevada's congressional delegation and state officials believe that any interim storage would ultimately result in permanent storage just a short distance away at Yucca Mountain.

So Richardson's announcement was welcome news indeed for this state. And praise wasn't limited to just Nevada's congressional delegation. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said it was a "fresh approach" to the nuclear waste debate, noting that there aren't enough votes to override President Clinton's promised veto of any congressional legislation designating the Nevada Test Site as a temporary dump.

Predictably, though, some senators chided Richardson. Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., said the proposal wasn't adequate. "It creates new liabilities for the federal government. The solution is to move the waste," Gorton said. Gorton's complaint has long been the problem with advocates who believe nuclear waste should come to Nevada: They won't acknowledge how dangerous the risks are in transporting and storing the world's deadliest waste.

Richardson's plan won't leave Nevadans giddy with excitement, nor will it depress them. After all, Richardson's proposal only deals with the issue of interim storage. Still left to be decided is the final resting place for the waste, and the Energy Department is still committed to investigating just Yucca Mountain. But Richardson's step is a more reasonable -- and welcome -- approach than what Nevadans have come to expect in the past decade from Washington on the issue.

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