Geologically Ill-chosen

The nuclear industry would have us all believe that Yucca Mountain is a good place for nuclear waste; but the truth is, Yucca Mountain is a particularly bad choice, due to geological aspects of the region.

Though the nuclear industry has been quoted as saying that Yucca Mountain is "oppresively hot, bone dry, and uninhabited," there is actually a large water table there that supplies water to the very much inhabited Amargosa Valley farming region. From this region milk from dairy cows, alfalfa, and nuts, amongst other things, are produced and shipped all over the country for consumption.

There are 33 known earthquake faults in and around the Yucca Mountain site.  And did you know that it is in a volcanic zone?  One volcano erupting under the dump is believed by scientists to be the biggest threat to the site.

Do you think that a small mountain that sits near volcanoes, in an active earthquake region, and atop a large water table, the cleanliness of which affects food products which feed the entire country, is a good place for permanent high-level nuclear waste storage? Neither does the Department of Energy (DOE), really. Since nuclear waste is so unpopular, the only "good" place for it is wherever the nuclear industry can force it. It figures that Nevada was thought to be an easy target because the federal government has been forcing things on Nevada for more than 50 years ... above and below ground testing at the Nevada Test Site, etc. Nevada is the third most seismically active state in the Union.  Only California and Alaska have more frequent earthquakes.  During the last 20 years there have been more than 600 earthquakes within 50 miles of Yucca Mountain. 

However, with the permanent population of Las Vegas, NV currently growing at a rate of 6,000 per month, Nevada's political power continues to increase. And the unpopularity of nuclear waste and of the nuclear industry continues to increase. People everywhere are recognizing the insanity of the nuclear fuel cycle.

Bottom line: Yucca Mountain is not the place to build a nuclear waste repository.

We believe that the national nuclear waste policy has failed, and that everybody everywhere should oppose the nuclear industry's plan to shove its responsibility for the potentially catastrophic environmental hazard it has created onto the people of this nation.

Press here to see Earthquakes in this region over the last 2 decades