Ward Valley Disposal Site

As your editorial correctly points out, a decision to build a low-level radioactive waste facility in any community is an important matter, and one that should be considered with all the facts at hand.

But the decision-making process shouldn’t become a never-ending cycle that drives up costs unnecessarily. Although the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that states won’t actually own the low-level waste generated within their borders, practical, responsible solutions must be found for disposing of the byproducts of nuclear technology’s uses in medicine, industry, research, consumer goods and power generation.

Every extra dollar spent resolving costly delays is a dollar taken away from these benefits.

States will sooner or later have to dispose of their low-level waste. While California’s liability can be minimized, there will certainly be unwanted consequences if it doesn’t find a practical solution.

PHILLIP BAYNE

President and Chief Executive Officer

U.S. Council for Energy Awareness

Washington