LETTERS: Hardy should tap other states for waste

To the editor:

Rep. Cresent Hardy got a lot of buzz for his remark that we should have a conversation about Yucca Mountain. Later, in an article heralding Rep. Hardy, he made the statement: “Since then, the only person who’s talked to me is (Rep. John) Shimkus.” (“Hardy forging his way in D.C.,” May 10 Review-Journal). Doesn’t Rep. Hardy think that perhaps he should be starting the conversation?

Rep. Hardy, on the subject of this country’s need to dump 170,000 metric tons of nuclear waste, have you given a moment’s thought to any alternatives? Has anyone suggested the Illinois and Indiana options for doing this? Both states have dump sites that are in fact much more desirable — stone quarries. Check them out. There are quarries more than one cubic mile in size that are byproducts of stone excavation.

In Elmhurst, Ill., the quarry was repurposed for the retention and eventual dissipation of flood waters. Other quarries remain enormous unused pits on the surfaces of these states.

So, Rep. Hardy should have the following conversation with Rep. Shimkus: What if you picked out a quarry for this waste and dug 10 holes in the bottom, each the size of 1,000 tons of nuclear waste? You set up a concrete machine and rock crusher right there alongside these holes, and use the rock to make concrete to bury the waste. Dig the hole as deep and wide as anyone wishes to support the 1,000-metric-ton packages. Line it, pour a floor, put the waste in, and then pour the sides and a very large top over it. Pour a reinforced monument block over the top of it.

Rep. Hardy should ask Rep. Shimkus for an invitation to Illinois to tour these quarries. Invite the experts who have yet to solve the 219 engineering, transportation, safety and longevity issues they are addressing with Yucca. Have a meeting. See if the 219-item list gets reduced, perhaps resolved. Develop a pro forma process and cost. Maybe in the end, everyone else’s nuclear waste can go to the quarries as well.

Rep. Hardy said we should have a conversation on this. He should stop waiting for the phone to ring. Call these people, check it out, and then tell us what you learned.

JIM CASSIDY

HENDERSON

Housing and water

To the editor:

Regarding William Becker’s letter (“Water-saving solution,” May 16 Review-Journal), Lake Mead is going dry, water that runs into Lake Mead is not coming, we live in a desert and our current Clark County commissioners are allowing big home builders to continue to construct more neighborhoods. Plus, developers pack those neighborhoods with as many homes as they can.

More home plots are being readied on the west side of U.S. Highway 95 near the Horse Drive offramp. I really believe that the current homeowners in the area don’t know what types of homes are scheduled to be built. Will they be three-story matchboxes, condominiums, single-family homes or maybe Section 8 homes? Some of these homes don’t even have enough driveway area to park a vehicle.

Whatever they are, we don’t want or need them because of the water shortage. Let’s fill in all the smaller land plots within the city with single-family homes before we start developing these bigger areas.

Furthermore, why are landscapers allowed to continue putting in so many plants at various projects? I’m not saying “no plants,” but just cut back. Water is precious and needs to be set aside for human use.

GENE GRABAU

LAS VEGAS