Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

Agreed.

If I were the chief-in-charge, I think I'd tell Harry Reid, "Harry old boy, you've got a well-built, secure site right there in your home state ready to accept all the spent nuclear fuel as well as nuclear weapons, right there deep under Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, but a long way from where any of your residents actually live.

I'd say, "Harry, it's not as if your residents don't know anything about nuclear stuff. The Nevada Test Site, right next to Yucca Mountain, was home to 904 atomic bomb tests between 1945 and 1992. Yucca Mountain and the facility that has already been constructed there remains the only legal site in the United States for development as a deep geologic nuclear repository."

I think I'd say, "Y'know Harry, putting nuclear waste and even weapons there is the law of the land. The Yucca Mountain Development Act was passed by the Congress and signed by President Bush in 2002 making development of Yucca Mountain federal law. Until Congress amends or changes the law, the Secretary of Energy is charged with pursuing development of Yucca Mountain as the nation's only nuclear geologic repository. And after all, Harry, you took the money it took to build the facility, why now don't you want it to be used? You can certainly understand the risks to the country of having nuclear fuel rods scattered all over the country for terrorists to steal, can't you?"

"I don't know how you think you can continue to fight the law of the land, Harry. You and I are both lawyers, aren't we? And that facility could provide a whole lot of jobs for Nevada, to employ some of those unemployed casino workers you keep complaining about."

Anyhow, if I were the chief-in-charge, that's what I'd say.