You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows...Only white people could take a perfectly formed mountain and fill it up with the most toxic manmade substance on earth and expect it to stay there for thousands if not billions of years. And pay billions of dollars to do it. Happy earth day...

Congresswoman Berkley does a disservice to her constituents and to readers by spreading misinformation, although ultimately she is correct that Yucca Mountain is the wrong solution for the U.S. nuclear waste problem.

I am not in a position to cite my credentials - I can only ask readers of this comment to accept that I have the scientific and engineering background in the nuclear industry to know what I am talking about.

Geologic issues are NOT the problem at Yucca, and the Congresswoman should know better. Regarding earthquakes, major trenching programs near Yucca Mountain have extensively studied all fault movements that have occurred in the Yucca area during the past two million years. We know where all the faults are in the region, and their behavior is now well understood. Geologic study of the deposits exposed in these trenches, and of the minerals found in fault zones, has provided evidence of how frequently and how much the faults have moved in the past. This information, together with information from historical and contemporary earthquake catalogues from the Southern Great Basin Seismic Network that surrounds the area, have been used to analyze the potential for earthquakes at Yucca Mountain. The potential for earthquake damage to an underground repository at this site is negligible. Moreover, experience with earthquakes throughout the world has shown that underground structures can easily withstand the ground motion generated by earthquakes. In actual tests at the nearby Nevada Test Site, old mine tunnels easily withstood ground motion from nearby underground nuclear explosions that were far greater than any ground motion an earthquake could cause at Yucca Mountain. These properly built tunnels showed no sign of collapse or imminent cave-in as a result of the nearby nuclear blasts and the seismic effects they generated. Therefore, earthquakes are not the issue. And since there have been no active volcanic eruptions in the area for millions of years either, the Congresswoman is undermining her case further by mentioning volcanoes.

The real issue is the water table. The triple walled storage canisters will not "rapidly" corrode, as the Congresswoman asserts, even if submerged for an extended period. DOE is not THAT stupid. Moreover, the drip shield that would be installed over the stored canisters would minimize corrosion effects for an extended period if the only source of water was rainfall working its way down through the rocks above. However, if submerged for an extended period, the canisters eventually WILL corrode and leak their contents. THIS is the real problem. We cannot be certain that the repository won't someday flood for an extended period if the water table rises, and we have no way of knowing that this won't happen, even if the current climate is a desert. Any long term burial/disposal site must remain unflooded for at least half a million years, or we risk poisoning our descendants' water supplies for thousands of square miles around the site. We cannot guarantee the future climate of a current desert region. Cave paintings made by our ancestors in the current Sahara desert showing a savanna like climate are testimony to this fact.

It is instructive to use the internet to research how the Canadians and French are addressing their respective problems with nuclear waste. Both are considering underground repositories as well, but both favor storage in solid granite chambers carved out of the living rock where water table issues would be virtually eliminated. But more instructive is that both nations are taking their time to study the problem and possible solutions, without making any move whatsoever. Their waste is kept contained on site, in containers that will last many decades. For this reason they are in no rush to make a decision. The U.S. should do the same, as the Congresswoman correctly points out at the end of her article.

Thus, Congresswoman Berkley is correct that we do not need to act now, and that Yucca is the wrong site for long-term/permanent storage. She just needs to get her facts straight in order to make a more compelling argument.

"My name is Mary McCloud. I am a Western Shoshone, a grandmother, great grandmother, and advisory board member of the Western Shoshone Defense Project. I'm writing to speak on our behalf, in an effort to help protect our treaty territory, an effort which has been a long ongoing struggle. I am writing based on the history of our struggle, which I stand on."

"In 1863, the United States federal government entered into a treaty with the Western Shoshone Nation regarding our lands. This is recognized as the Treaty of Ruby Valley. It was not a treaty of cession to the United States."

"In the 1861 Nevada Territorial Act, the U.S. Congress referenced this part of the spirit and the letter of the Northwest Ordinance by stipulating ''That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to impair the rights of person or property now pertaining to the Indians in said Territory, so long as such rights shall remain unextinguished by treaty between the United States and such Indians.'' The Nevada Territorial Act further states that ''all such [Indian] territory shall be excepted out of the boundaries and constitute no part of the Territory of Nevada ...''

"The Indian Claims Commission Act of 1946 was passed by Congress to pay a monetary award to any Indian nation whose lands were wrongfully taken by the United States. Western Shoshone lands were never taken by the United States. This is why our lands and land rights should never have been made part the Indian Claims Commission process to begin with. The Indian Claims Commission found no specific historical evidence that the Western Shoshone lands were taken by the United States or others after the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. Besides, by the terms of the Northwest Ordinance and the Nevada territorial act, Congress forbade such a taking of Western Shoshone lands. This is an issue that neither the Indian Claims Commission nor the Supreme Court ever addressed."

"In conclusion, I want to state that we the Western Shoshone are still the original and rightful owners of our national lands as described in Article Five of the Western Shoshone Treaty of Ruby Valley. I bring this up so that you might understand where we are coming from. Based upon what I have mentioned, most of the land in Nevada has been under assault by coal plants, gas, oil, mining, drillers and other people whose actions are drying out our cold and hot springs, and our vast underground aquifers, and destroying our mountains, plants, food and water. As I've mentioned, we have been in a very long struggle to have our rights recognized and stop dirty energy projects and other projects and destructions which violate our spiritual ways and teachings."

"We are pleased that the Nevada Clean Energy Campaign coalition has been formed, and we will work with the concerned citizens. We Western Shoshones need the help of all the people out there to get this job done, to respect and protect our land, air, water and sun for the generations to come in order to bring this country back to the pristine land it once was and that our ancestors experienced. [b]We also need to stop Yucca Mountain, which is in the Western Shoshone territory, from being used as a nuclear waste repository.[/b]"

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416597

Placing a nuclear depository on Indian land without their approval is a direct violation of the Treaty of Ruby Valley. Placing the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository on Indian land against their will is just a continuation of Genocidal policies. Where are the voices of Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, Bill Moyers, and Ralph Nadar regarding this continuing Genocide. Where are the featured stories on public radio and television? Quiet Genocide is alive and well in America. And what about you Shelley Berkly, is the American Genocide against American Indians too unimportant for you to address in your article? Genocide lives.

what about breeder reactors?

For Guy the Gorilla: with a 1 million gallon plume of highly radioactive waste from Hanford working its way through the groundwater toward the Columbia River, this is not the best time to ask us citizens to just trust the DOE and other experts. Am sorry, but we are getting a little wary.

Years ago, a geologist was given a huge grant and asked, "which of three sites is geologically best for storing nuclear waste for half a million years?" The first proposed site was Deaf Smith County, Texas. He said, that's a prime agricultural area. The second proposed site was Hanford, Washington. He said, that's in the floodplain of the Columbia River, it will flood sooner or later, that's crazy! (That's where we're currently storing most of the waste, by the way.) The third site was Yucca Mountain, which won simply because the other two sites were silly.

Was it science? Yes, about two minutes worth.

I've heard a lot of talk but I haven't seen any good solutiions. Hey, alomost 70 years and counting, waiting for someone to come up with a solution for the waste that will still kill you after millions of years.
If tehy want to do nuclear, first clean up the mess you have already made, and then we will talk about it.
I live in Washington state, and Hanford still threaten's the Columbia river and everything on down to the Pacific ocean.

For joneden - I can only assume you did not read my posting very closely. Clearly I disagree with the DOE position to use the Yucca site. Your concerns about the Hanford site are well founded, BTW. PaulK's observations are also spot-on, as well. We have a real problem, and poor decisions are being made on multiple fronts.

I'm one of Berkley's constituents here in Las Vegas and I'm shocked to see her welcome on a progressive website, since she is an authority for nothing besides but what she REALLY cares about, which is standing up as one the most pro-war pro-Israel ZIONIST politicians in Washington.

Even Conservatives are occasionally correct on one issue or another.

How about Crawford Texas?

Hummm...how about outer space and all the folks that like toxic sludge can go with it and create a whole new planet.

I like the Crawford idea, but if sea level rises 25 meters from global warming, it will be under water. Maybe Dubya would crawl up close to a nice warm cask on a cold night.

The post from the other day mentioned that Yucca can only handle what waste is already waiting and a little more. I looked that up and its true! Maybe 20 years from only the plants that are now running.

Don't anyone tell Ed Rendell about all the goodies Chuck Muth expects. He'll bury the waste in Harrisburg!

Its time for DOE to ramp up a fast neutron reactor or some gizmo to convert that stuff into low level waste. We should wait until its ready, and not bury high level waste.

The only safe location is an inert sphere like the Moon... maybe the space shuttles should be shuttling this stuff outta here.

I remember reading the prophecies of the Indian Seer Sun Bear who said that the Native Americans held prophecies that once the white man came digging in the desert for (let's call it) ancient fire, he would set loose something that like a genii could never be put back into the bottle. Seems nature buried uranium and its radioactive cousins for a good reason. The human attempt to once again bury what's been manipulated to exponentially increase radiation becomes the Pandora's Box of our times.

The only solution is to go for 100% renewable energy.

Spain already uses saline solar thermal batteries that have a storage capacity lasting 17 hours to provide base load supply, while Solar Towers can operate without wind and generate power twenty four hours a day. [F.y.i - http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/02/66694

New technology to harness renewable energy is advancing so rapidly, in five years time nuclear and coal fired power stations are going to look like ox waggons competing with racehorses on a racetrack.

"Hey, alomost 70 years and counting, waiting for someone to come up with a solution for the waste that will still kill you after millions of years."

Forget 500,000 years from now -- within 30-years, robots will 'mine' for valued nuclear-'waste' (perhaps to install it in lead-'donuts' for passing city-sewage through -- to make it 'bio-safe' for drying on land for subsequent-use as fertilizer -- rather than pumping sewage full of deadly-chemicals and then dumping-it in our rivers/groundwater?).

[Of course, that kind of logical/high-tech sewage-treatment and 'recycling' will Stink...so they'd likely locate most of that in Indian or Minority areas...!]

The fission nuclear-industry shouldn't even exist (the money would be much-better pumped [as the 'waste' Congress treats fiat-money as] into Fusion-R&D). We DON'T 'need' nuke-plants any more than we 'need' nuclear-weaponry or DU-weaponry...period (nor does the Environment 'need'-it). But, our Congress-creatures are bought and paid-for by the same corrupted-elite that easily broke every Treaty ever signed with Indians -- or Contract (social or otherwise) with anyone-else...[and, now these 'Entities'/Elite-Interests are even more-powerful/threatening, due to excessive 'Corporate/Banking-Deregulation'].

We are in deep doo-doo, people -- and, have been sliding towards-such (and as directed/planned-for) since the early 1700's...!
'They' own/control most-governments and ergo military-forces, almost-all 'Central-Banks' (and the Currencies they print), all Uranium-mining and Defense-contracting and OilCo's/refineries, instigate all Wars/politics/economic-upheavals, have this Mythos of 'spreading-Democracy' and 'Global Warming/Carbon-Taxing/Religions' helping/aiding their 'Interests' and 'Causes', profit-illicitly from all 'Energy' and everything-else, and also are starting to effectively use Food/Weather/Media/Military's as Weapons -- to further-destroy/exploit the Poor/Weak, everywhere...

What DOES or CAN one 'do about all-of-this'...? [Other than altogether 'opting-out', fighting Them (uselessly and dangerously), or "joining Them" by becoming lick-spittle Profiteers?]
tick-tock...

Guy the Gorilla,

Excellent comments Guy. Some of the most intelligent and informed I have seen concerning nuclear issues on this forum.

Shelley Berkley is an idiot. The packaging is nearly the same whether it is dry storage at a reactor or being moved, but according to her dry storage is a "hardened canister" and the other is a "rolling Chernobyl". Hah, Chernobyl didn't even have a containment vessel.

Another politician that ought to just kill himself is Harry Reid. He has vowed that Yucca will never open - fine in and of itself. But as Senate Majority Leader, he has never made an effort to zero out the budget for it. He doesn't mind spending billions of our tax dollars in Nevada on a project that will never come to fruition.

Sioux Rose

I don't think you can send it to moon, the moon is one of the relations. I read that white people have a gift to materialize things, it is a strong and dangerous gift and that native americans are here to keep them on the good road because they don't know how to use thier gift except to make more, get more..etc. That native people are part of the earth, they have paid with thier blood.

I do not think anyone would want their state turned into a nuclear waste dump site. I don't think that any state wants their state to become a nuclear highway, but that is what will happen if we have to truck and rail tons of the stuff to one site. People will be having the trucks carrying it rolling right through their towns and on the interstates. You do not think this will be a problem?

Helium-3 [ He3 ] on the Moon is expected to be worth trillions of dollars, for our future's "low radiation & heat" fusion (not fission) reactions.

The cost to go to the moon is such that (by comparison) IF there were billions of GOLD bars already stacked up on the moon's surface, it is now, and will not likely ever be WORTH going to get them.

He3 is worth something like 1,ooo,ooo for an ounce, and the tiny bit that they've collected from very rare traces here on Earth, and been used to PROVE the promise of fusion -- but we have to BUILD factories on the MOON to do so.

The Chinese are in the race with us, and possibly EU might figure out a way to sidle up with the Chinese, and cut a deal.

Namaste

sjc_1

"I do not think anyone would want their state turned into a nuclear waste dump site."

What about the states that were turned into nuclear waste dumps for the benefit of the entire country? Tennessee, Washington, Georgia - They can just go spit, huh?

"I don't think that any state wants their state to become a nuclear highway, but that is what will happen if we have to truck and rail tons of the stuff to one site. People will be having the trucks carrying it rolling right through their towns and on the interstates. You do not think this will be a problem?"

What in the world makes you think this isn't happening all the time anyway? Nuclear shipments happen every day in every state. In the grand scheme of things, if you accept auto transportation as a given, you have already accepted an activity that will kill a minimum of 30,000 people/year for the forseeable future. Exactly 0 people have been killed in shipping nuclear materials. You have a far greater risk of being hurt by materials from a large chemical tanker.

Navaho humor:

Humor

When NASA was preparing for the Apollo project, they did some astronaut
training on a Navajo Indian reservation. One day, a Navajo elder and his son
were herding sheep and came across the space crew. The old man, who only
spoke Navajo, asked a question, which his son translated. "What are the guys
in the big suits doing?" A member of the crew said they were practicing for
their trip to the moon.

The old man got really excited and asked if he could send a message to the
moon with the astronauts. Recognizing a promotional opportunity for the
spin-doctors, the NASA folks found a tape recorder. After the old man
recorded his message, they asked the son to translate. He refused. So the
NASA reps brought the tape to the reservation, where the rest of the tribe
listened and laughed, but refused to translate the elder's message to the
moon.

Finally, NASA called in an official government translator. He reported that
the moon message said, "Watch out for these guys; they've come to steal your
land."

I find your rebuttal unconvincing and I think other will too. Saying nuclear shipments happen every day, so who cares if we have more of them? I don't think that will fly in the court of public opinion.