nuclear-news

For Nevadans, the Presidential Election Is Life or Death in a Much More Literal Way | Environment | AlterNet

For Nevadans, the Presidential Election Is Life or Death in a Much More Literal Way
By Peggy Maze Johnson, AlterNet. Posted September 18, 2008.
This election could be a make-or-break moment in history for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

Will the November 4, 2008, election doom the future of Nevada? That
sounds ominous, I know, but this election could be a make-or-break
moment in history for the Yucca Mountain Project. This is the
ill-conceived plan to bury nuclear waste in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.
Everyone in this state knows the problems inherent in this project and
should be on alert. But also this should serve as a “heads-up” to
everyone in the country.

People are in a panic about how to solve
the nation’s energy deficit problems and it’s easy to talk about
building nuclear power plants as a solution. In the meantime, the Yucca
Mountain Project controversy is never — never — mentioned. The fact
is the only site ever seriously considered for storage of the
inevitable deadly waste generated by nuclear power plants was Yucca
Mountain. Study after study has shown it is a hazardous location for
storing nuclear waste for the millions of years the waste continues to
emit deadly radioactive ions. Of the many drawbacks cited, one of the
most frightening is that Yucca Mountain sits in an active earthquake
zone.

Nevadans voted for George W. Bush in 2000 because he said he would not
approve Yucca Mountain as the nation’s nuclear dump unless the “science
was sound.” Now we know he didn’t mean it. Making Yucca Mountain
scientifically sound would be like putting lipstick on a pig!…………………………….he upcoming election is about many important issues — not the least
being the prospect of tons and tons of more deadly nuclear waste to be
stored if we go ahead and mindlessly build nuclear power plants in a
misguided attempt to solve our future energy needs.

For Nevadans, the Presidential Election Is Life or Death in a Much More Literal Way | Environment | AlterNet

Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, uranium, raduioactive

September 23, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | wastes