(May 20, 1994) An overwhelming majority of Nevadans remains opposed to placement of a high-level waste dump at Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada, US, according to a poll recently commissioned by Nevada's Nuclear Waste Project Office.
(412.4078) WISE Amsterdam - The percentage of Nevadans against the dump -- 69% according to this latest survey -- has remained fairly consistent over the last several years, despite the multi-million dollar ad cam-paign which the nuclear lobby aimed at Nevada's citizens.
The American Nuclear Energy Council's ad blitz created an awareness of the industry's efforts in Nevada, but those effects have apparently backfired. Although 10% of Nevadans polled said the ads made them more supportive of the dump, three times as many -- almost 30% -- said the ads made them less supportive.
In addition, the survey found that almost 65% opposed the nuclear industry lobbying state and local officials on the dump, and 64% said that the state should turn down any deal the industry or the federal government offers to the state in return for placement of the dump at Yucca Mountain.
The poll also found that an even higher percentage of Nevan-dans -- 71% -- do not trust the Department of Energy to reveal any serious problems with Yucca Mountain. That number could be even higher now, as state officials pointed out, since the poll was taken prior to revelations about decades-old DOE radiation experiments conducted on unsuspecting Americans.
One final result showed that opposition to the dump is likely to remain consistently strong in future polling: 62% said it was unlikely that any new information which DOE might release about the project would change their minds.
Source: Citizen Alert (US), spring 1994.
Contact: Citizen Alert, P.O.Box 5339, Reno, Nevada 89513, US.
Tel: +1 702 827-4200