More Fears Over Yucca Dump Plan

Residents in rural Nye County echoed fears of radioactivity tainting ground water, terrorists striking transportation routes and corroding storage canisters if the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump opens in Nevada.

Resident Sally Devlin said she isn’t swayed by government scientists’ findings after nine years of study that the nation’s 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel can safely be contained for at least 10,000 years in a maze of tunnels about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Devlin said at the final formal hearing on the federal government’s proposal that Nevada and especially Nye County are unprepared for a nuclear accident.

The Department of Energy hearing Friday was the last before Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommends to President Bush whether the nuclear waste repository should be built at the western edge of the Nevada Test Site. It is the only site under consideration.

Nye County Health Officer Maureen Budahl testified that the Energy Department should extend its studies beyond the geological suitability of the Yucca Mountain site.

“It is imperative the Department of Energy be prepared to assist us,” she said.

Mary Wilson, vice chairwoman of the Pahrump Town Board, said Nye County’s rural communities would be affected most by a Yucca Mountain repository. Nye County is geographically Nevada’s largest county--a sprawling 18,064 square miles. It has about 30,000 residents.

“Pahrump, Amargosa Valley, Beatty, Tonopah, Goldfield and Mercury--they are all much more affected by Yucca Mountain than is Las Vegas,” Wilson said.