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StumbleObama to zero out Yucca Mountain funding, pull license
Published Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010 | 11:50 a.m.
Updated Monday, Feb. 1, 2010 | 9:22 a.m.
Sun coverage
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WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama plans to zero out funding for Yucca Mountain and "take steps" to withdraw the project's pending license application, according to a preview of the 2011 budget that will be announced Monday.
The president's intention to pull the license application -- a promise he made while campaigning in Nevada -- would be one of the most critical moves yet in stopping the proposed nuclear waste dump in Nevada.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has been in ongoing talks with Obama over the dump, called the development "great news."
"President Obama is keeping his word to Nevada and I thank him for working with me as we try to find a safer solution for dealing with the nation's nuclear waste," Reid said Sunday.
Reid's office released information from Obama's coming budget that showed: "The Department of Energy’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management will be merged into the Office of Nuclear Energy. As part of the merger, funding for the proposed Yucca Mountain project will be eliminated and the Department will take steps to withdraw the license application in the near future. This reflects the Administration's commitment to pursuing a responsible, long-term strategy through the appointment of a high-level Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future.“
"We had champagne on ice for 25 years, but we won't pop the cork until we see the terms and conditions of the withdrawal of the Yucca Mountain license application," said Bruce Breslow, the executive director of the state's Agency for Nuclear Projects, which has been fighting the dump.
Breslow and project opponents will be looking to see that the application is drawn "with prejudice" -- meaning the site is not suitable and cannot be reconsidered in the future.
He said he will also be looking to the Energy Department to begin to restore the desert site where it has been working and drilling for years. "We will want to ensure that DOE follows up on site restoration and reclamation and preserve all important documents to protect our legal position in the future."
Even as Reid -- and, in the past year, Obama -- have severely slashed the Yucca Mountain budget, opponents have worried that unless the license for the project that is now pending for review at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is withdrawn, a more friendly administration could revive the dump project.
That license review is a lengthy four-year process that could finish by 2012 -- a presidential election year.
However, under existing law, the administration and its Energy Department could simply withdraw the license application -- essentially halting the project from advancing, which would be a significant blow.
The administration had been hesitant to pull the license because it could face mounting liability from the power companies, which have been successfully suing the government for failing to open Yucca Mountain and take the nuclear waste off their hands.
On Friday, the administration took a critical step toward assuring the nuclear industry it was seeking a viable Plan B by establishing a commission headed by Lee Hamilton and Brent Scowcroft to study alternatives. The administration also announced it would be beefing up new federal loan guarantees sought by the nuclear industry to build new power plants Obama touted in his State of the Union speech last week.
Yucca Mountain's opponents may still hold skepticism that the project is truly dead. The site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas remains in the 1987 law as the proposed location for the nation's nuclear waste, and opponents argue that until the site is declared unsuitable by the administration or the law is changed by Congress, Nevada's desert could remain on the back burner as the waste site.
Also, budget watchers will be looking to see how much funding the Obama allocation allocates to the new merged department to ensure only minimal amounts for close out work at Yucca are allowed.
Congress is unlikely to attempt any change to the existing law, as Reid would not likely have the votes to revisit the difficult issue that had been decided more than 20 years ago.
Still, those who have been fighting the dump for decades will likely see the Obama administration's decision to zero out funding and take steps to withdraw the application in the future as among the most clear signs yet the dump project is almost dead.
Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley said the Energy Department confirmed to her the budget language coming Monday from the White House.
"This budget is a bulldozer that will help Nevada flatten Yucca Mountain into a permanent pile of rubble," Berkley said.
"Money talks and the president's budget shouts 'no more spending' on efforts to dump nuclear waste in Nevada," she said. "We are closer than ever to winning the war on Yucca Mountain and the battle now is to pass this funding cut, so I'll be on the front lines leading the charge in the House."
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Yet another example of stupidity from liberals and their leader.
Where to they purpose to build a dump for nuclear materials, what are other options for America, we generated the waste now we need to deal with it.
Just like the terrorists, doing something stupid without having plan A, B, or C. And you idiots want Democrats to remain in office, goes to show just how stupid America has become.
Here's a thought, keep Yucca open and finish what was started and stop funding the free loaders and illegal immigrants and use the money for the intended purpose, America as a whole not the select few. Quit running away from problems and blaming others, face it and deal with it, this is what being American is all about, we create our own destiny, not the government.
This is an old Chicago-Politico trick.
If you can't change the law permanently,
starve off the funding 'till it drops.
Either way, nobody's fooled...
Okay...now what to do with Yucca Mt....what economic use can be derived from this...Sen. Reid could have drug it out a few more years, taken the money for Nevada, and then in 2012 stopped! Isn't that the way politics goes...Nevada needs money, Nevada needs jobs, Nevada needs Help!
This Yucca Mt project can be a gold mine for NV if we had good leadership. Let's see where the money goes now, maybe to IL or some special interests.
i am sure alot people are happy i am. but at this point our finacil situation is we should take the money.
CLEAN ENERGY+NUCLEAR ENERGY+RECYCLE WASTE=Clean Power, Jobs and no waste. Let's turn Yucca into a nuclear power plant that creates clean energy, and jobs. WOW Why hasn't that been the plan the whole time??
I say use it as a huge federal prison for all WHITE AND BLUE COLLAR convicts doing 10 years or more and make it a work camp for them too' Also put all the terrorist in there as well. And then after that give the people a tax cut.
Id rather have uncovered nuclear waste in downtown Las Vegas>
The first few comments,
So you are saying, regardless of the hazards and the fact that we are making a push for cleaner energy, we should keep it open to get the money? That's like going to Iraq just to spend defense money. Oh wait, you guys supported that too. Perhaps we should blame Harry Reid and the president for changing things, eventhough you guys complained that he didn't do anything his first year in office. If you guys are hating on the president, he's doing something right.
Key statement in this announcement:
"The (Energy) Department will take steps to withdraw the license application in the near future."
If the license application is pulled, the government will be setting itself up for billions of dollars of lawsuits from utility companies. Billions.
And you thought Yucca Mountain was expensive? You ain't seen nothin' yet.
So everyone complains about expensive energy. Nuke is the way to go, but no one wants it in their back yard and with what we have, where does everyone want to store it? If we took all the nuke plants off line tomorrow, you know ho much your electric bills would go up? Honest question here - who lives at Yucca Mountain anyways? NO ONE! And yet, no one has complained about area 51 blowing up Numke bombs under ground and thats in our back yard..I am not taking sides here, but who has a better idea where to put the stuff?
I thought conservatives didn't like government? So why do they want the government run Yucca MT? Also the Price-Anderson (I believe) act provides government liability insurance for nuclear plants when liability is over $500 million in damages. I thought the conservatives didn't like "the government takeover of health care or the auto industry, blah, blah" So why do you hypocrites want government insuring power plants???
libertarians=no government=no building codes=no re-bar=Haiti
President Barack Obama plans to zero out funding for Yucca Mountain and "take steps" to withdraw the project's pending license application,
On Friday, the administration took a critical step toward assuring the nuclear industry it was seeking a viable Plan B by establishing a commission headed by Lee Hamilton and Brent Scowcroft to study alternatives.
This is necessary to allow Obama to show up this month to support Harry Reid's 2010 re-elect.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"take steps" hum "take steps" hum "take steps" TO VIOLATE the LAW. To VIOLATE the NWPA.
Would that be another Commission like the "Close Gitmo Now" Commission?
The only outcome will be the Nuclear Industry sues and take over the project or the court orders DOE to complete it. The States holding FAAs will also sue. While Reid may use this to win in 2010 this will not go away any more then the Terrorist will
Eric Holder better hire a lot of Lawyers to defend DOE from the NWPA Breach of Contract for Failure to Performance lawsuits!
When the Federal Courts have to decide that Obama and Reid refused to allow the Yucca License Application to be adjudicated to establish to merit of the Sound Science they will not be laughing any more -- since the only reason provided in court will be it is pulled is to support Harry's re-election.
Unwilling to allow the last year of the NRC review - why is that?
The Commission cannot produce a viable Plan B because the Commission's Charter will not result in a new LOCATION or DESIGN based on sound science, it will not result in a new License Application which would met NRC Regulations, and it would not result in a new NWPA.
What Harry Reid has said all along is the HIGH LEVEL WASTE cannot be SHIPPED. On that Reid-Obama-Chu premise alone there cannot be an Alternative "B" like reprocessing.
When Reid ZEROs out Yucca it means that the Shipping Canister that would carry the waste to Alternative "B" will not be Licensed.
So what the Commission team member of most anti-nuclear environmentalist selected by Browner can come up with only one answer onsite storage for a million years at 100s of location on our lakes and rivers -- effectively shutting down the best option we have to meet the global Warming goals.
Another great ideal, backed by Mr Jobs himself, Harry Reid. Add another 1000 unemployed Yucca mountain workers, not to mention the thousands of other jobs it would create as it nears completion. Not to pile on or get off topic, what happened to our train funding Reid likes to blame Gibbons, but only the most cynical partisan blames Gibbons on this. This was 100% Reid. he should of been lobbing for this money. Instead he backed a company that did not have the experience or proper plan in place to get the funds. Harry Reid being Senate majority leader, means nothing for Nevada. Frankly Ensign has done a better job of bringing the pork to Nevada.
This is plain insanity to spend all those millions of dollars over the years of which Dirty Harry has allowed and pushed for these funds to be spent and now all of a sudden not want it?
Also, didn't the administration push for more than $50B in new nuclear plants to come on line this past week?
Aren't those plants going to generate waste?
Now with that in mind, new plants, new jobs, to be created and we want to prevent new jobs here in southern Nevada?
What is the logic here?
There is none!
We need Yucca Mountain pure and simple!
We need the jobs, the scientists, the engineers, the technicians, the support operations via an industry that will be built around this operation that will involve tens of thousands of new jobs and hundreds of new business here in Nevada.
We would lose the opportunity to allow our children to get engineering and scientific degrees and have employment potential here in our community!
Yucca Mountain is a resource that we need badly here in Nevada pure and simple! To shut this down when it is 70% completed is stupid and shows the stupidity of Dirty Harry and why he must go!
There is one person running for Office of Clark County Commissioner, and Independent who supports this Yucca Mountain and jobs it would bring. He is an Independent. It is time we support people like him that can see beyond the political landscape for us here in Southern Nevada.
I am voting for that Independent individual, Master Sergeant Durbin District F, at least he is not corrupt and has a vision for future of Nevada that will allow jobs to be created.
"I thought conservatives didn't like government? So why do they want the government run Yucca MT"
--------------------------------
Thanks for bringing that up
The fact is that this a prime example of big government failure.
Had the law been written so the Nuclear Industry could build it it would be operating by now for a lot less.
The government has taken $22 billion of RATEPAYER monies so far (not taxpayer monies as Harry lied about on Friday)and has nothing to show for it and a political descision not sound scisence is being made
$22 billion dollars being waste on the re-elect whim of Reid
And because Reid will not change the law RATEPAYER must continue to pay for something that will not happen
In my book that is highway robbery
Harry, Harry, Harry, You would like to thank the President for working with YOU! When are you going to tell the truth?
hahaha, are you stupid? you want to tout nuclear energy, but you want to close down yucca mountain to store the waste? what you going to do, start up nuclear energy, and then let the nuclear waste from said energy and throw it at another country? throw it in the ocean? throw it in space? that's like drinking a bunch of laxatives without a hole for your s**t to come out of
Its going to cost us more money to shut it down and maintain whats already there, than to keep it open and run it...and we LOOSE again with no jobs!! We have come years and years in advanced technology for working with Nukes. All the information is based on 1960 technology - we are way past that in terms of what we know..geezz talk about going backwards !!
As usual, the liberal, left, Green Freak Democrats are happy to push industry, jobs and a strong Nevada economy out the door; most likely to the benefit of some other state with the foresight to see the benefits to be derived from a nuclear waste storage facility. For all but these mental light-weights, it is easy to picture billions of dollars pouring into Nevada in support of an industry that will grow now that the federal government is starting to see the light and has endorsed, however tepidly, more use of nuclear energy. What better place for a nuclear waste storage facility than in an isolated desert area of a sparsely populated state--a state that will always be sparsely populated. Nevada, bereft of reasons to not welcome the Yucca Mountain storage facility, is unfortunately, similarly bereft of sensible people, and instead, is populated by a majority of complete idiots.
Jaesun,
Being called stupid by an obvious Bush supporter is a compliment. Thanks for that. As for what we should do with the waste, scientists are discovering ways to recycle the waste into usable energy. Of course the fuel rods are the biggest issue when it comes to storage but it has become increasingly clear that we CAN send them into space. Do you have an argument for sending it into space? It's actually cheaper to do than storing it underground at Yucca and prevents any spread of radioactivity. There are studies showing that there could be leakage in the Yucca reserve. There is no need to have the site in our state when there are new methods available to us for disposal. What would Jesus do?
1,600 high paying jobs going away.
hahaha
As I said, "a majority of complete idiots."
Thank you Obama.
Nightmare over!
Why would one even build this thing then? Why not just not build it in the first place if its not going to be used?
What can this facility be used for?
More waste and pork....when will it stop?
Yucca Station casino...
I agree completely with tickedoff - Nevada demonstrates once again why the only industries it can attract are gambling and sleeze. It boggles the brain how a state, in this economy in particular (and with a total lack of a technological industry) could turn down huge amounts of money in new construction, thousands of highly-educated and high-paying jobs for something with less risk than driving to work every morning in Las Vegas.
The only satisfaction I would have at this point is that the State of Nevada immediately lay off all of the State's Nuclear Waste Task Force people (eg, former baseball card dealer Bruce Breslow) as well as the Eagan law firm that has worked so tirelessly with Harry to kill this. I hope they enjoy the unemployment line as well.
Just another example of "dumb & dumber" trying to destroy the state of NV. Way to go idiots. How you going to replace those jobs?
Obama pushes nuclear energy to boost climate bill
Above reported by associated press today.
Now this article says Obama will zero out funding. pull license for Yucca Mountain.
HYPOCRITE!!!!!
We all know that Woody is gonna use this Yucca dump in his campaign and take full credit for shutting it down. And the people in Nevada will fall for it, hook , line and sinker. So lets all remember that its due to lack of funds is why Yucca is no more. I just can't wait to see how far he milks this. And Chill , those jobs should have never existed in the first place, they were just milking the system. Mrb , there wasn't going to be loads of money poured into new construction and new jobs. There wasn't any promise of any benefits to the state for having the dump here, why do ya think Woody was fighting it so much, for the good of the people? get real. If Woody was getting something in return for the state we would have it up there right now, not to mention himself.If I recall Woody proposed that for the dump to open in Nevada that all Nevada residents should be exempt form taxes including income tax, of course he was turned down but he did ask for it. The Federal government was offering Nevada NOTHING worth mentioning in benefits for hosting this dump. Those who will lose thier jobs because of this should have seen this coming a long time ago, but some folks will just ride that taxpayer funded dead horse til it's just skin and bones.
Nuclear energy is clean energy. The stimulus money should have been spent on building nuclear power plants. By the way, where did the $800 billion go?
hahaha
lol. you really thing space is the future trash can? hell, why not send our trash to space too? forget recycling when you have SPACE. don't worry. keep following the obama bandwagon. it will be great when all his nuclear initiatives blow up because all of a sudden, they have no place to put all the nuclear waste. but then we can take your word for it and throw it all in space. good luck with that
oh, and don't be surprised when his nuclear initiatives fail. with no place to store them, you won't get far in building a foundation for a nuclear future. and again Obama will prove himself to be all talk. you along with everyone else is just in awe of his eloquence. unfortunately, he can talk all he wants while his actions speak completely the opposite.
Unfortunately for Obama and Reid, the NWPA allows anyone to go to their local federal circuit court and seek judicial correction if either the President or the Secretary of Energy are not following the law. Since the NWPA has no provision at this time for withdrawal of the License Application, expect many immediate actions to stop Obama from violating the NWPA. There are 39 states with waste destined for Yucca Mountain, much of which can not be reprocessed. Do you really think many of these won't go to court?
Further, the law also states that the Secretary of Energy is to report to Congress if any federal agency is not supporting the completion of the repository - which defunding the project certainly would be. Chu will have to report to Congress why he is proposing zero budget in FY11.
Obama is also playing with potential impeachment proceedings when the Republicans regain Congressional majority later this year for intentionally failing to uphold his duty to follow federal law. All to help Reid. Just what does Reid have on Obama?
Man. First we get screwed out of Cali's garbage,
now this setback. How WILL we go on?
BTW, what will the NRC do if it receives a request to withdraw the Yucca Mountain Repository license application? The NWPA has no provision for this action now, and in fact requires the NRC to review the application. Will the NRC acquiesce to politics in fear of their jobs, or will they obey the NWPA and refuse to allow the withdrawal of the license application? If they do not object to the withdrawal, then the technical independence and legal compliance of the NRC can be called into question during all future reactor licensing efforts, thus probably ending nuclear power forever in America.
And who said waste disposal was boring? Wow, this year could be a major definitive turning point in America's history.
Soon Obama will take away gaming.
The only money he spend is the tax payer.
its so funny, the state could have gotten 1 BILLION dollars per year for Yucca, now we're dying for money, layoffs and foreclosures everywhere... wish we would have taken them up on the offer. Silly democrats. We'd have a surplus not a deficit if we'd have taken that money. When your state is 85% owned by the federal government and you only have 2 large cities (3 if you count Hendo) you need to keep an open mind. that's why the waste was coming here, big hugh state with hardly anything in it. Much like Reid and Obama's heads.
1 billion dollars would have paid off Nevada's unemployment debt to the U.S. Treasury...
Here's a thought, keep Yucca open and finish what was started and stop funding the free loaders and illegal immigrants and use the money for the intended purpose, America as a whole not the select few. Quit running away from problems and blaming others, face it and deal with it, this is what being American is all about, we create our own destiny, not the government.
stop reid you been trying to stop it for yeears now get over it it could be a good thing for nevada and the rest of the country for power with the rods so look there before you try shuting some yuca down first dumb idiots in washington
Sambre..well said
If we just close Yucca Mountain it will be what a 4 billion toilet seat? maybe more after all the law suits come around... just a not about France not a big friend but they are one of the biggest users of Nuclear power and this is what they do.
I. MATERIALS > THE URANIUM-PLUTONIUM CHAIN > Treatment of Radioactive Waste
Radioactive wastes are treated by various widely different measures, and new technologies are always being developed. We discuss here briefly only one aspect of this complex subject: volume reduction.
The first part of the CEA's Spin program was Puretex, which grouped research tending to decrease the volume and the activities of the waste, in particular secondary wastes coming from reprocessing [Bataille 96]. Moreover producers of waste work to reduce the volume of waste that they must send to storage or disposal centers in order to reduce the cost of disposing of these wastes.
There are at least five methods of approaching the problem of radioactive wastes:
SORTING
Rigorous sorting prevents the mixing of waste that is lightly contaminated with waste that requires treatment and/or costly storage. Practiced by most operators today, it is the only means of avoiding the creation of secondary waste, waste that is a byproduct of the treatment of waste.
COMPACTION
Presses designed to reduce the volume of solid wastes are located at most major production sites. The risks are minimal, but, depending on the waste compacted, the wastes may disperse gaseous effluents and liquids that must be trapped and packaged.
DECONTAMINATION
Used since the creation of nuclear sites, decontamination consists of such treatments as coprecipitation of contaminated liquids, the sanding of metals to eliminate surface contamination, and the soaking of metallic wastes in a chemical bath. Secondary wastes are always created-the sludge from precipitation, contaminated sand, contaminated liquids . . . Today, decontamination is used to change the category of given wastes. Thus, one can begin with medium-activity solid wastes and end up with solid wastes said to be of low activity and a great quantity of effluents that are themselves treated to become sludge also described as of low activity or effluents of low activity that are then released into the environment.
Isn't it funny how The Yucca Mountain problem is always solved right before election time? :-)
HAHAHA-you are not very smart.
So.....where is the waste going to go? It has to go somewhere safe and Yucca Mountain is it. What is everyone worried about? The transportation methods are safe, the storage is safe, and the facility is secure. You will not even no it is there. If you think there is not already tons of Nuclear waste in Nevada, think again. The government has millions of acres of land in Nevada. There were nuclear bombs being exploded just 60 miles north of Las Vegas less then 20 years ago. It has no effect on you or me other then a more secure economy.
Is Yucca Mt. being closed down for good, forever? It need not be a total waste of U.S. treasury. There are other possible uses for Yucca Mtn. Why not turn the cavernous tunnels that are deep beneath this mountain into a very secure prison for the most vile and dangerous prisoners such as terrorists now occupying Guantanamo Bay? With modifications this would be the most secure place to incaracerate these criminals for whatever length of time their sentences dictate. In the depths of this mountain the only way in or out would be through elevators or a series of elevators, which if properly designed could be made escape proof as humanly possible. We already have several select very secure escape proof federal prisons so why not consider Yucca Mountain as a new potential modern day Alcatraz?
The remote nature of this area seems like the ideal location for a new state of the art federal penitentiary. It's remoteness would make planned attack to release terrorists by outside terrorists groups highly unlikely or extremely difficult at best.
Could not the Yucca Mt. area be used to do other forms of research such as manned and unmanned space vehicles development for exploration and possible colonization of other planets in our solar system and galaxy? I am certain there are other forms of both applied technical and pure research applicable to both peaceful and military uses that could be conducted on this remote and secure area. Just because it may not ever be used for permanent storage of highly toxic nuclear wastes does not mean that this vast area does not have other potential uses for the United States.
What other laws will Reid and Obama not feel like following?
Must be nice to be KING. Oh wait, are not they elected officials sworn to uphold our nation's laws?
Bad Reid
Bad Senator
http://aBadReid.com
Did you read the budget statement?
Here is all that Obama and Reid could say
"The Administration has determined that Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is not a workable option for a nuclear waste repository"
Determined? Determined? determined WHAT? There is not even a foot to a two page slide show to tell us HOW was it DETERMINED
=========================
And buried in the text they said they were going to Keep the Ratepayer money AND KEEP COLLECTING IT
"While a new strategy is developed, ongoing responsibilities under the Act, including administration of the Nuclear Waste Fund and the Standard Contract, will continue within the Office of Nuclear Energy"
Jaesun,
Worried that we'll run out of room in space? HAHAHAHA
Nick says "Nightmare over", Nick, your old school thought process and outdated thinking are in the minority. Just think, your uneducated and collegeless ass has company now. Some of the finest scientists and engineers are unemployed with you. People, if you have lived in the Midwest and East Coast, you know, that Nuclear is the way to go. Electric bills were cheaper and services was not garbage. Nevada provides a perfect spot, its been studied by scientists for god know how long. How are a bunch of politicians supposed to know any better. Neva-Duh will continue to tread the ground-or bury itself in sand.
It's good to be king. You don't have to follow federal laws, listen to any advisors (accept the ones you owe political favors to).
Oh wait, Obama is an elected official who swore to follow and uphold our nation's laws!!
Oh wait again, Reid is also the same!
Bad Reid
Bad Senator
http://aBadReid.com
I wonder what else Obama and Reid can take from Nevada. They leave all the bums and welfare programs and the unions but they take more federal dollars away. I think there next move is to out law gambling in Nevada and to raise taxes and to raise business licenses to $3,000.
Obama and Reid are so smart. I can't wait to see what else they do.
Finally. Lets hope the closure is permanent.
Yes space is a great idea. How many shuttles have we lost? Having a few hundred tons of highly radioactive waste vaporized a mile or so up in the atmosphere is an awesome idea.
For someone that simply does not trust our current administration and the god-awful congress, I support this move whole heartily. Nevada does not have or does not want Nuclear Power Plants! The states that DO have these plants should host their wastes, period!
This is great news for Nevada since we don't all want to die due to a nuclear disaster. Nevada is not the nation's dumping ground, and we have one person to thank for that, and it's Harry Reid.
The last 4 posts are done by a bunch of retards! Do you guys work for the P.R firm of the Harry Reid office. Torklugnutz, you said closure, you must have confused that with forclosure cause I'm sure that you are familiar with that. This one guy- your a total retard if you think that. You must have went to UNLV and got a degree in Science, ha- Dessert sun- those states that have nuclear power plants, have 10 fold the population of your little city. Las Vegas is the 24 largest city in the country- big deal-
Reid, Berkley and Titus deserver full credit for killing jobs and the billions in dollars that would have been coming to the state.
Thanks
You guys are right, Nevada is not ready for Nuclear power. This coming from a state that has forclosures, Unemployment, crime, drop-outs and thinks the UFC is great. You know, leave the real sciene to the intelligent states. No wonder no one supported the DesertXpress, cannot take Nevada seriously, can we??
The dumbest thing that was never done was that when the idea of this dump came up in the early to mid eighties, the "leadership" of Nevada at the time should have been NEGOTIATING a big fat fee for each and every ton of waste brought into the state of Nevada for storage in Yucca mountain.
Radiation? You really think after DECADES of underground nuke testing that there isn't radiation spewing out of the ground somewhere on the test site? Heck, they used to test the devices ABOVE ground out there!
The waste was going to be in sealed containers for crying out loud and Nevada could have had a financial windfall for quite a long time BUT NOOOOooooo.....
Anyone that says nuclear energy is "CLEAN" energy is misinformed. The fact that we have nuclear waste that is extremely dangerous and can be even more dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands and becomes a weapon makes it UNclean. It is not renewable, not clean, and still causes greenhouse gases from the mining, construction, and transportation it causes.
We don't use nuclear waste here, and any state that does should figure out what to do with it without transporting it across the country and subjecting everyone to the risks of accidents, terrorism, hijacking, theft, etc.
I hope they not only kill funding and withdraw the application, but change the law so that the power companies are responsible for their own dumps.
I must be misinformed because I will say that nuclear energy is "CLEAN" compared to oil and coal fired power plants... So there...
Dear Sun, Nice article. Nice photos as well.
Looking close at the photos I noticed a few odd sights. In photo 8 it seems that there was not enough manpower to get the dirt out from the rail tracks. Is that Homer Simpson with a new groovey mustache? In photo 5 the wiring and conduit job looks to be a tad unorganized and poorly laid out. Can you say kadywompus conduit?
In the external view the spiffy twin vents. Yes the rusted and tilted ones, look like something from the exhaust system on the beverly hillbillies truck. Photo 3 is great! What elegant layout for some well designed and informative PSA's. This balance and emphasis on conveying the message to the public are sheer perfection in a sort of retro Picasso abstactionist motif. Indeed the engineering of the sign "farm" may be the creme de creme of other site design integrity and may be viewed as a role model. Again Sun thanks for the article and the great pics.
Vegassucs.... Don't lump all people that call Vegas home in the same group... I graduated from UNLV along with a few of my friends with science degrees... And we are all for YM... The potential for that site is boundless... The revenue for the state is boundless as well...
Unfortunately fear has been what drives the decisions at that facility... For anyone that has been here for more then 10 years, remember all the propaganda they used to spew about this...
Nukes are safe and effective, look at their track record in comparison to kilowatt hours they have generated... Not to mention the new designs that have been proposed in the last 15 years use things like gravity as their safeguards... But the fact is we could keep this stuff indefinitely and then when the recycle process becomes refined, we then win twice... we sell this stuff back to power companies at a premium...
The fact is this thing is built and will be brought up... I am with the "this is an election ploy" crowd... Because this issue is like clockwork at this time... But please Nevada understand we embrace this and we will be economically set... Fight this and someone else will, because they will put this online without our approval, and they will outsource this to someone else...
But lets chalk this license revocation up to another win for the state of Nevada...
It is my understanding that in the Reagan years we had a chance as a state to get funding for yuccca mountain. This funding would have provided grants to all Nevada universities science departments for nuclear studies. With this money from what I have read and been told would have also created a stipend. Like each citizen in Alaska gets every year. So our wonderful leaders. Which included Reid, yet again. Turned down this offer. Now we are giving away our PUBLIC lands for solar energy which uses a few million acre feet of water per year to cool the solar cells. Seems like Nevada representatives missed the boat and are giving away our precious resources. I would have liked a stipend every year from the government. I don't think our housing and economy would be the worst in the country had our representatives had good foresight and not fear.