Posted on 04/09/2002 11:11:28 AM PDT by cogitator
Nevada Governor Vetoes Yucca Mountain
LAS VEGAS, Nevada, April 8, 2002 (ENS) - Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn has vetoed the Bush administration's recommendation to build a permanent repository for radioactive wastes at Yucca Mountain.
"Let me make one thing crystal clear - Yucca Mountain is not inevitable, and Yucca Mountain is no bargaining chip," Guinn said Monday morning in an address at the University of Nevada. "And, so long as I am governor, it will never become one."
"Yucca Mountain is not safe, it is not suitable," Guinn continued, "and we will expose the Department of Energy's dirty little secrets about Yucca Mountain."
Guinn traveled to Washington DC today to file his official Notice of Disapproval, also known as a Governor's Veto, with both houses of Congress. In 1982, Nevada was given the unequivocal right to veto the president's recommendation that Yucca Mountain become the nation's sole repository for high level nuclear wastes - the first time a state been given the power to veto a presidential decision.
Congress will have 90 legislative days to override Guinn's veto on a simple majority vote.
"This veto belongs to each and every one of you who have battled against a project that would be detrimental to the public health and safety of our citizens, our precious natural resources and our economy," Guinn said, "and to the other 43 states and hundreds of cities and towns in America through which this dangerous waste will be transported."
In 1987, Congress selected Yucca Mountain as the only site it would study for disposal of high level nuclear wastes, the most dangerous of radioactive wastes. Guinn argued that Yucca Mountain was selected because it is located in a section of Nevada with a population of less than one million, and just four legislative representatives.
But its isolation means that Yucca Mountain is thousands of miles away from 90 percent of the nation's 110 nuclear power plants, requiring the wastes to be transported across country, passing through populated areas along the way. The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to use Yucca Mountain for the disposal of 77,000 tons of high level radioactive waste and spent fuel from throughout the United States and 42 countries.
"The fact that the Yucca Mountain decision was made without any analysis of the transportation risks to the 123 million Americans in states through which this dangerous waste will travel is the dirty little secret," Guinn said.
Citing more than $100 million the nuclear power industry has spent to promote the project, Guinn asked all Nevadans to contribute at least $1 to the Nevada Protection Fund, which has now topped $6 million.
The Saudi desert?
I can understand his concern, but when it comes right down to it nuclear power is something we need, and it needs to have someplace for its waste to be stored. Right now, Las Vegas gets its power from Hoover Dam, and so nuclear is not an issue for the governor of Nevada. But if Vegas continues to swell, they too will be wanting a nuclear power plant.
Yucca Mountain seems as good a place as any. How many posts until somebody suggests ANWAR? ;-)
Guess what governor, they didn't mine the nuclear fuel from underneath the powerplants. They transported the fuel (and continue to do so) past these same 123 million people in the first place. And there's never been one problem. So now that the fuel is depleted and less radioactive, you don't want to transport the fuel back out of the populated areas into a hole in Nevada, where it can't hurt anyone.
Talk about reality-challanged-liberal. This guy saw to many radioactive giant ant movies in the '50s.
There is a toxic waste disposal facility at 55 West 125th St. in New York. Maybe we could bury more than just the last 8 years of toxic waste there.
If the Governor says no, then it should be no. Maybe it is a good site, maybe not. What about a long-term lease [100,000 years] at a decent monthly rate that will make the Governor happy?
Should be a no-brainer. 2 Senators don't want it in Nevada, and 98 want it anywhere but in thier states.
A simple majority should be a breeze.
Further.....why should the State of Nevada have to take the junk from the rest of the Nation? It seems like Nevada has done more of its share of helping the nation with things atomic, and by extension nuclear.
I suggest storing it in the Halls of Congress, the basement of the White House, and around the homes of all the stockholders and consumers of nuclear power.
BTW, i am all for nuclear power as a large ingredient in the arsenal of power sources. I am not for one state getting stuck with all the s**t!!! And certainly not from a foreign country!!! I don't buy the BS we 'have to save the environment case folks like Russia won't'...then let them eat it when it rots in THEIR environs!
Indeed! If storage is as safe as they claim, you could store it in the heart of a major city. God bless the governor of Nevada!
So says a professional politician who owes his living to gathering a majority of the votes of his constituents, by whatever means possible as long as he doesn't get caught with his pants down (and even then, based on previous experience, he may be okay, if he has a "D" after his name).
OTOH, we have the process of scientific inquiry, which is beholden to no one other than Mother Nature, which has produced study after study indicating the site is safe and suitable for the intended purpose.
Which is more objective, more likely to honor the truth? I'll go with the science.
Think about it. They will probably find no alternative but to place this among us. They would NEVER let it be put in ANWR.
i'm always amazed at the incompentence of hte nuclear industry that they went ahead and made thousands of tons of waste without knowing where it was going. I guess they were getting paid all along, and now its someone else's problem.
Actually, you probably could devise a system that would allow you to do so. But when taken in a larger context, isolation is a stable geological formation is, on balance, the right thing to do in this case. It has to do with basic concepts of engineering, ideas such as multiple barriers of containment and defense-in-depth. Then there is the little matter of a cost/benefit analysis. Ever done one of those for a large-scale engineering project? I have, and the results are quite revealing.
Overall, an interesting subject area, this noo-que-ler stuff. You should read up on it sometime, you might learn something. I did for about 5 years after graduating college, and, if an ordinary slug like me can learn it, I'm sure a bright dude like you can. Check back here in a few years and let us know how its going...
I've done work there, once on site, that waste won't go anywhere.
Probably more prone to leakage and contamination of the surrounding area.
Only if it is paid in full during his term.
Actually, the industry solved the problem back when the fuel cycle was first proposed by developing the technology for fuel reprocessing. That would have "closed" the fuel cycle, in essence, except for a relatively small volume of short-lived, non-useful material that would have to be held for decay.
So why don't we do that instead of Yucca Mountain, you ask? Why, because of politics, of course! I'm amazed at the incompetence of the politicians and the stupid sheeple who blame the industry instead of the politicians who left the fuel cycle open. Jimmy Carter outlawed reprocessing over bogus proliferation concerns and to kowtow to the wacko environmentalists and the stupid sheeple who want to blame the industry. That's who you should really blame...
Never heard of that side of the story, did you? I'm not surprised. Sheeple usually don't take the time to learn the real story of this issue. They just get caught up in emotions. No brains, just glands...
Sheesh!
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