Published: March 19, 2005
Those who believe, as we do, that the best way to get rid of nuclear waste is to bury it deep underground have got to be discouraged by the latest revelation rocking the effort to create a burial site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Two federal agencies are investigating whether a government scientist falsified documents for a license to build the depository. It is unclear whether the falsification involves trivial issues that can easily be rectified or strikes a deeper blow at the validity of data designed to prove the site would be safe. Any falsification would throw yet another cloud over a project that has been repeatedly staggered by technical problems, political opposition and adverse court decisions.
The Energy Department said that an employee of the United States Geological Survey sent multiple e-mail messages from May 1998 to March 2000 indicating that he fabricated some records relating to water infiltration and climate at Yucca. The least damaging possibility is that he was annoyed because, long after he had completed a hydrology study, he was asked to supply the dates on which certain work was performed for quality assurance documents. Unable to reconstruct the dates, he made them up. Other e-mail messages suggest that false claims were made about the calibration of instruments.
The more troubling possibility is that the fabrications run deeper, raising questions about the models or underlying studies, or that they involve more scientists.
If the falsification turns out to be a relatively minor issue, the Energy Department needs to press ahead vigorously to submit a licensing application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission so that we can know, once and for all, whether the Yucca site will be suitable. But if, alas, the falsification turns out to be deep and fundamental, the administration and Congress will need to give serious thought to two backup alternatives - leaving spent fuel at the reactor sites where it is accumulating for many more years or decades, or moving it to a temporary storage facility above ground. Neither would be a permanent solution for disposing of nuclear waste, so the quest for a burial site at Yucca or elsewhere would have to continue.