Yucca, Yucca, Yucca

Nevada Senator Harry Reid (D) has been fighting against the use of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste dump. However, when the NRC approved Skull Valley as an interim waste storage facility last week, Reid had this to say:

“Transporting high-level radioactive waste to Utah is as dangerous as it would be transporting it to Nevada. Thousands of tons of deadly nuclear material will pass homes, schools, businesses and churches in communities all across the country, and there is simply no way to safely do this. In Nevada, we will continue to fight as hard as we always have to stop the proposed Yucca Mountain site. The safest and smartest solution to solving the nation’s nuclear waste problem is to store waste at the facilities where it is already being produced, as Sen. Ensign and I have proposed.”

According to Senator Reid's website, there are several geological factors that should have put Yucca Mountain out of the running as a long-term dumping site. Along with this, there have been quality assurance issues with the site from the project's inception. As I learned yesterday from Yucca Mountain Johnny, the mountain was created by volanoes. According to the DOE, there is no longer any volcanic activity at Yucca Mountain. According to independent reports, however, there is evidence of recent volcanic activity. There are also at least 33 fault lines at or near Yucca Mountain. A magnitude 5.6 happened 8 miles from the mountain in 1992 and damaged the project offices.

Perhaps the most daunting aspect of the Yucca Mountain Project is safely transporting all of that radioactive waste across the country. Reid says:

"Waste would travel through 44 states on its way to Yucca Mountain, yet the DOE has not adequately tested the casks it would use to transport waste by rail, truck, and barge. The debacle of transporting this waste, putting millions of Americans at risk and providing targets for terrorists, should be the Yucca Mountain Project’s undoing."

If you aren't thoroughly convinced that Senator Reid isn't sincere in his concern for the environment and our natural resources, just read this:

"I have been working to help our state end the worst infestation of Mormon crickets in 40 years. Over the last several years, I have won hundreds of thousands of dollars for Nevada to deal with the cricket infestation. When it became clear that was not enough and that crickets don’t respect borders, I established a three-state $20 million fund to eradicate crickets in Nevada, Utah and Idaho. This money will give the hard-working people who have been fighting this threat the support they need to protect our communities from future infestations."

Okay, so I had to poke a little bit of fun. Seriously, though, check out his site to learn more about the Yucca Mountain Project.