Thursday, May 23, 2019 | 2 a.m.
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Recently, some writers have taken the position that we should store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, claiming it is safe and important to our local economy. I take exception to the safe part of this argument.
As most people know, the Nevada Test Site was formed in the early 1950s to test nuclear bombs both above ground and below ground, and testing continued until 1992. Today, television ads tell people who worked at the site during the Cold War that they are eligible for home health care. Clearly, the people in charge of the work failed to protect the health of the workers, either through greed or ignorance, and now restitution is being offered to those remaining survivors.
Who can say that the same problems won't occur during any new effort to work with nuclear energy at the site today? Why should we take the chance? Let the businesses that profit from nuclear power generation take responsibility for the residue resulting from their operations.
