Nevada - Communities at Risk

It was back in 1986 that southern Nevada resident Judy Treichel first realized that Yucca Mountain, just eighty miles northwest of Las Vegas, would be the only place in the entire nation scientifically studied as a potential high-level nuclear waste dump. The realization struck her hard.

Judy Treicle, longtime resident of Nevada, is angry about the Bush administration's broken promise to Nevadans. She works hard each day to stop the movement of high-level nuclear waste through the country to Yucca Mountain.

"My granddaughter was born in September of 1986," Judy says, "and for six months I was both a grandmother and a granddaughter, until my grandmother died the next spring. During that time, I realized that I had to do whatever I could to save what had been given to me by the wonderful people that had gone before-and to safeguard the future for this baby."

It has been more than 17 years since that battle began for Judy and she is still fighting, now harder than ever. Today, it's the Bush administration that is putting Nevada communities at risk.

High-level nuclear waste is one of the most dangerous substances ever to exist on Earth. It remains deadly for tens of thousands of years, and its radiation is so hazardous that anyone who comes in direct contact with it would receive a fatal dose of radiation instantly.

Scientists and public health officials have expressed many serious concerns about the choice of Yucca Mountain as the nuclear waste disposal site for the nation. More than two hundred significant technical and scientific issues with the Yucca Mountain site remain, including how quickly the waste containers will leak deadly radioactive waste into the aquifer beneath Yucca, and the likelihood of earthquake activity around the mountain.¹ Even more uncertainties surround the safety of transporting nuclear waste by rail or highway.

Despite all these unanswered questions and unresolved problems, the Bush administration pushed forward a recommendation to Congress that the Yucca Mountain site be chosen to store 77,000 tons of nuclear waste. In so doing, he broke the 2000 campaign promise he made to the people of Nevada to base all decisions surrounding Yucca Mountain and nuclear waste on "sound science."

Potential for Accidents Frightens Many
Nevada residents are frightened about the future the Bush administration has planned for them, their children, and generations to come. "People are concerned about high-level nuclear waste transport because it is the activity most likely to result in accidents and radioactive exposures in the near future," says Judy Treichel.

Transportation accidents are a real threat, not only in Nevada but throughout the nation. The administration plans to use our roads, highways, and railroads to move radioactive waste from all corners of the nation to Yucca Mountain over the next thirty years. Any number of calamities is possible-even probable-and could lead to what Judy calls "an accident that doesn't end."

The amount of waste that would be shipped to Nevada is unprecedented. An estimated 100,000 truckloads, or 20,000 trainloads, of deadly shipments would pass through 45 states and within half a mile of 50 million American citizens.² "We all use the transportation system and have seen accidents that should never have happened," says Judy. How can we be reassured that there are adequate safeguards against nuclear transportation disasters?

To Find a Reason, Follow the Money
The administration has even argued that opening Yucca Mountain to nuclear waste will be good for Nevada's economy. Judy however, like most Nevada residents, believes no one wants a nuclear waste site in their backyard, so she questions why people would follow one to Nevada. Judy recalled a legal battle won by a New Mexico rancher whose property was located along a route where waste was to be shipped. The court determined that the proximity to the bypass would reduce the value of the rancher's property. Judy went on to say that banks in Nevada have alerted residents near Yucca Mountain that new loans would have to be paid off by 2010, the proposed opening date for the radioactive dump. Financial institutions know that the storage of nuclear waste in Nevada will decrease property values, so why should residents believe it will be good for the economy? The shipments of nuclear waste are scheduled to begin in 2010. There is a better way. The Bush administration must act to protect Nevada communities, find a solution to nuclear waste that is safe and secure, and turn to non-polluting and renewable energy sources to fuel our nation's future.

Caption: Judy Treicle, longtime resident of Nevada, is angry about the Bush administration's broken promise to Nevadans. She works hard each day to stop the movement of high-level nuclear waste through the country to Yucca Mountain.

For more information contact:
Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force
4550 W Oakey Blvd Ste 111
Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 248-1127
www.nvantinuclear.org

Citizen Alert
1700 E Desert Inn Rd Ste 113
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 796-5662
www.citizenalert.org

JJ Straight
Sierra Club
3210 W Charleston Blvd.,
Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 732-7750
www.sierraclub.org

Deadly Nuclear Waste Coming to a Rail Line Near You? The Bush Administration's Broken Promise