Sen. Reid confronts nuclear threat to Utah, Nevada

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that nuclear waste should never be transported through Utah in the post-9/11 world because "every train is a target for terror." "We should just leave the waste where it is in containers under and above ground. We'll save tens of billions of dollars that way," Reid, D-Nevada, said before a tightly packed crowd in the Hinckley Caucus Room, which flowed out into the Orson Spencer Hall corridor. In a press conference following his question-and-answer session with the public audience, Reid addressed questions regarding a recent scandal involving a governmental push to store 77,000 tons of nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain. Some politicians, as well as the Salt Lake and Las Vegas Chambers of Commerce, were critical of the push to bury the waste because of its potential to seep into groundwater, but other forces, including President Bush and Utah Senators Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, were pushing for the use of a supposedly dry Yucca Mountain. Reid described a memo from a governmental geologist who reported the situation within Yucca writing, "water, water everywhere." According to the Associated Press, one U.S. scientist reported, "This is as good as it's going to get. If they need more proof, I will be happy to make up more." Reid said such e-mails, which are essentially saying "there is not enough evidence, so we'll make some up" are criminal and he added that, in a rush to get the site up, the government overlooked the public's health. He added that a criminal investigation is underway. "This is worse than the Enron stuff," Reid said. "People aren't go- ing to allow nuclear waste to be hauled past their homes, schoolyards, businesses and churches." Reid said he planned to meet with Gov. Jon Huntsman, who is opposed to nuclear waste coming into or through Utah, but said it would merely be a social event. However, he added that the nuclear waste issue "may come up." Hatch and Bennett supported Bush's efforts to bury the waste while U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson stood alone in the Utah delegation in the fi ght against Yucca storage. "It's pretty obvious they [Bennett and Hatch] should have helped us and didn't," Reid said. Reid said he has always supported keeping nuclear waste out of Utah, but as long as the country uses nuclear energy, the process will always produce nuclear waste. Nuclear Testing Reid said there is no need for renewed nuclear weapons testing as other more practical techniques, such as hydrotesting and subcritical testing, have become available. Hydrotesting uses intense pressures and temperatures to cause plutonium to behave like fluids while subcritical testing carries out the nuclear process, but is halted before dangerous "critical mass" is reached. Reid said these techniques are sufficient, and added that he is opposed to bunker busters. Religious Right Reid is a member of the Church of Jesus C hrist of Latter-Day Saints and was in town for Genera l Conference, but said he believes in separation of church and state. "The religious right has become politically Republicanoriented and is no longer subjective," he said. "I'm happy that the First Presidency [of the LDS Church] don't take sides and have issued a statement telling the members not to. I'm glad, I just wish members would listen to what they're saying." Republican Majority "Absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely," Reid said regarding the Republican victories in the 2004 election. However, he said, the degree of the victory tends to be exaggerated. Reid also criticized Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. "Think about what they're doing in the House," he said. "The majority leader had three censures in one year, so they changed the rules...Now in the Senate, they're trying to be a rubber stamp for the president and changing 217 years of rules" in the process by destroying checks and balances. Middle East Reid recently returned from a trip to the Middle East where he spent time with Palestinian and Israeli leaders. He expressed concern Friday about ties between the current Palestinian leadership and former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. "I'm not sure the present leadership of Palestine is far enough removed from Arafat," he said. In terms of the Iraq War, Reid said, "Words can not describe what is going on in Iraq. The devastation is tremendous and it will take decades to rebuild." He added that he is concerned because in the post- Jan. 30 election period, the Iraqis are yet to form a government. However, Reid said, "Iraq is changing. It's a long, slow process. We're there, and it would be a disaster for decades to come for us to just walk out of there." sgehrke@chronicle.utah.edu