Bush signs bill making Nevada's Yucca Mountain the U.S. nuclear and radioactive waste site

Yahoo - Associated Press ^ | July 23, 2002 | SCOTT LINDLAW

[In Search of Freedom]

AP World Politics

Bush signs bill making Nevada's Yucca Mountain the U.S. nuclear and radioactive waste site

Tue Jul 23,11:45 AM ET

By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - After two decades of study and fervent protests from Nevada, President George W. Bush ( news - web sites) signed a bill Tuesday making Yucca Mountain the central U.S. repository for nuclear waste.

"The successful completion of the Yucca Mountain project will ensure our nation has a safe and secure underground facility that will store nuclear waste in a manner that protects our environment and our citizens," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer ( news - web sites) said in a statement.

The project had been studied for more than 20 years, and Bush signed the measure with no fanfare. Reporters were not allowed to witness the bill-signing.

The House and Senate voted earlier this year to entomb thousands of tons of radioactive waste inside Yucca Mountain — in the desert some 90 miles (144 kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas.

Nevada's senators, who tried for months to rally their colleagues against the Yucca waste dump, argued that the issue was much broader than Nevada. They hoped concerns over thousands of waste shipments crossing 43 states would sway some lawmakers, but they were defeated.

Bush has long backed Yucca Mountain as a repository site, formally recommending it in February.

Nevada filed a formal protest — as was its right under a 1982 nuclear waste law — leaving it for Congress to make a final decision. The House approved it in May, the Senate this month.

The state has five lawsuits pending against the project, and the Energy Department must still get a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. That process could take up to five years.

Even some Yucca supporters admit that plans to open the site by 2010 may be too optimistic.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham ( news - web sites) said he was convinced that 77,000 tons of waste destined for Yucca could be stored there safely for the tens of thousands of years that it will remain highly radioactive.

[In Search of Freedom]

Bush today made a big mistake. He has just created a new potential terrorist target.

A nuclear transport traveling through your town headed to Nevada will now be a target.

[RightWhale]

He has just created a new potential terrorist target

There are already about a billion PTTs. This makes a billion and one.

[In Search of Freedom]

Not everthing is a target. I beleive terrorists look for easy targets that will produce mass casualties. That would make nuclear transports a prime target.

[In Search of Freedom]

That would be a PPTT.

[AAABEST]

As far as Nuclear waste desposal goes that's a scientific and logisitcal argument.

The thing that makes me uncomfortable about this is not the idea of mass nuke waste deposal, but the way it was shoved down Nevada's throat.

[RightWhale]

They go for symbolic targets since they don't have the wherewithall to do serious military damage. They might blow up Disney or at least turn off his cryogenic unit.

[chainsaw]

Bush today made a big mistake.

The mistake was signing it before the elections in november.

[LasVegasMac]

I really hate to see this happen.

You have a good point. I wonder how many "sources" there are - how many roads to be traveled by this stuff.

There are other points as well - called earthquakes - in the same area.

Reminds me of some words from a Jim Croche (sp?) song (Ya don't mess around with Big Jim ?) - "ya don't spit into the wind, ya don't tug on SuperMan's cape.."

Maybe, just maybe, man really does know more than Mother Nature. I mean if all those scientists say that nothing will ever happen - and if what never will happen ever does happen - nothing will happen because the storage containers are fail proof.

Hey, if ya can't trust the guberment, who can ya trust?

Yep. Uh huh. Ok.

LVM

[rellimpank]

--nuclear waste is generally a less tempting target than a load of gasoline. If you hit a tanker of gasoline with anything likely to get into the hands of the average terrorist it will make large fire--if the same happens to the typical load of nuke waste, you will only need to pick up the cask and put it on another truck--

[chainsaw]

the way it was shoved down Nevada's throat.

The Yucca mountain project has been in construction for the last 20 years, Nevada benefited from the jobs produced, and nobody complained.     Now it is being shoved down their throat?

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Facts like that don't matter when the point is to slam the President. They probably don't know the dangers of what is being transported, either.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

See my post above. Bush could give a million dollars to each idiot on here who chimes in on the opportunity to dis him, and they would whine "whats wrong with 2 million?"

[rellimpank]

--the primary opponents are of course the "greens", who want to stop any from of energy production, the gasbags of the press whose knowledge of "science" consisted of avoiding studying any of it in grade and high school, because it was "hard" and the Demotraitor politicians who have generally made the subject a "third rail" in Nevada politics.

Due to the large number of new residents here, I suspect less than fifty percent of the population of Clark County can find Yucca Mountain on a map--or care about what goes there if they even understand what nuclear waste is--

[Prodigal Son]

I sort of see your concern but the waste has to go somewhere right? Or am I missing something? Where ever it goes it will still have to be transported. Having it go to Nevada won't make it any more a potential target than having it go to Delaware, they'd still have to move it and in the act of moving it the potential for it being a target would be created.

Personally, I'd like to see 'em build the nuke power plants underground. Is there any reason why this isn't feasible? That would protect them somewhat from attack and it would seem like it would also protect us from excess radiation exposure in case of a meltdown (or attack). Anybody got any input on that- other than it being costly?

[Frohickey]

Stupid Bush.

What he should have done is increase funding for the Energy Department, with all of the increased funding going to the state that has a suitable nuclear storage site.

This way, the state gets to use its own land, maintain its own sovereignty, and it can balance its budget deficit using annual federal dollars, with NO STRINGS ATTACHED! I bet Kalifornia would go for it. All Bush had to do was dangle a $25 billion carrot, and you'd see Gray Davis swallow it, hook, line, sinker and pole.

[In Search of Freedom]

You are right on target!

[In Search of Freedom]

Just put a nuke repository near Mt. Hood, and be good little red blooded american and don't complain.

[yoe]

The delivery of nuclear wastes does not have to wait until you have a large truckload to haul away; a small van or large SUV can be used instead. The NIMBY's have touted about a lot of misinformation over the years and bad scientists employed by the government have done damage to the truth also.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

How many people are nearby the Yucca waste site?

[RedBloodedAmerican]

My understanding is Cali wont allow anything nuclear there, including new powerplants, which is one reason they are having the energy crisis