Heeeere's Johnny!

Meet Yucca Mountain Johnny. This morning he taught me all about the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management's Yucca Mountain Project. Basically, Yucca Mountain is where the U.S. government plans to throw a good deal of the nuclear waste that's currently scattered around our country. Yucca Mountain Johnny is the host of the Yucca Mountain Youth Zone and now I know everything I need to know about this wonderful, responsible project.

First, of all, Yucca Mountain is located in the middle of the Mojave Desert in a remote area of Southwestern Nevada. Who lives at Yucca Mountain, you ask? Don't be silly:

"No one lives at Yucca Mountain. The closest family lives about 14 miles away in the Amargosa Valley. The Yucca Mountain area is surrounded by land controlled by the U.S. government, including the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Air Force, and the Department of Energy."

So don't worry, kids. If there was some sort of accident with the nuclear waste (not that there ever would be, because Americans are perfect!), it wouldn't even get near other humans. Just look at how contained Chernobyl was. Oh, wait...nevermind, forget I mentioned that.

Yucca Mountain is really "more like a very large hill" with a dry, warm climate. It was formed by volcanoes tens of millions of years ago. No, there aren't volcanoes there anymore and scientists think it's highly unlikely that there will be again. There are some bomb testing sites nearby and lots of jets that fly over and could possibly crash into the mountain, but...kidding!

Now that you know all about the mountain itself, let's learn about nuclear energy:

"Imagine what your house would be like if no one EVER took out the garbage. Not only would your home be dirty and stinky, but it would also be a very unhealthy place to live. To stay healthy, we need to take our garbage out."

Of course, eventually we'll have nowhere else to put it, but that probably won't be in our lifetimes so who really cares. Oh, wait, the DOE does:

"But it isn't right to let the waste keep piling up and expect someone else to take care of it later on. We must be responsible for our nuclear waste and put in a place where it can never harm people or the environment."

We're going to be responsible. Thank goodness. The explanation also says that nuclear waste is radioactive and can make people sick or even die.

The page entitled "Using Science to Solve the Problem" is perhaps my favorite. It explains that:

"If enough water contacted the nuclear waste, over a long, long time, it could eventually cause it to rust and corrode (like rust affects a bicycle if you leave it out in wet weather for a long time). The rust on nuclear waste would also be radioactive and water could carry tiny radioactive particles from the rust into people's drinking water. If the water ends up having enough of these particles in it, people who drink a lot of that water could get sick. So we need to figure out ways to keep the waste dry for thousands and thousands of years."

Instead of offering any ideas of their own, the DOE simply leaves it up to the kids: "How would you solve these problems?" Good idea, getting them to start thinking about it now. They're mostly likely going to be the ones who'll have to deal with it.

The next page explains how they plan to package the waste (in "waste packages"!) and bury it under the ground. Also, here we learn that the Yucca Mountain Project doesn't exactly solve the problem of nuclear waste. You see, we can't be entirely sure that burying the nuclear waste under this "very large hill" will actually keep humans and the environment safe. Luckily, we have scientists studying all of that and they think it'll probably be okay. Phew!

Finally, I got to the good part: Games! Because what could be more fun than games about radioactive waste? Nothing, I'm sure. I was all excited to play pin the talons on the fishies. Unfortunately, they only have a couple of lame puzzles and some propoganda quizzes that ask things like "No one lives on Yucca Mountain, true or false?" What I'm wondering is, why are there Middle School and High School level quizzes when the entire "Youth Zone" is written at about a fourth grade level? I can't really see a high school student using this site as a basis for research.

In any case, I'm so glad the DOE created this site. I had a lovely time hanging out with Yucca Mountain Johnny. All my fears about our natural resources ("There are no known natural resources of commercial value at Yucca Mountain), people's safety (remember, no one lives at Yucca Mountain!) and the future ("in the course of its activities, DOE may disturb some of these environs and has promised to reclaim Yucca Mountain by restoring as much of the disturbed areas as practicable to their former conditions.") have been alleviated. Thanks, Johnny!