The closer the U.S. Department of Energy comes to a showdown on proving the need and viability of the Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository, the more it's going to have to depend on excruciating scientific detail.
And right now it doesn't look good for the DOE.
Nevadans have long fought the repository site north of Las Vegas on both broad political grounds and narrow technical ones.
There was, of course, the way Nevada was originally chosen as the place for the nation's nuclear waste -- a political bait-and-switch that caused three potential national sites to magically become only one: Yucca Mountain.
There was also the reason for choosing the site -- its stable geologic nature, which proved to be false when examined scientifically. Besides seismic activity, it was shown that groundwater was percolating through the mountain much faster than speculated.
At some point, Yucca Mountain repository opponents are hoping, all the promises of basing decisions on "sound science" will come home to roost.
The latest issues were revealed last week in Las Vegas when problems were discovered with years' worth of documentation on data regarding the ability of the site to store nuclear waste.
This gets to be rather arcane stuff, but it will be important when the DOE goes before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December 2004 to make its case.
In a nutshell, managers apparently were looking for shortcuts in the process of documenting the work that went on there.
In addition, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that three auditors who reported the quality-control problems were removed from their positions a short time later.
None of this helps instill confidence that this site can be engineered to protect Nevadans from radioactive waste for 10,000 years. It does give us hope this project, if viewed objectively, will someday be abandoned.