01 Jan 2002 Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository to Open, Says U.S. Energy Secretary, by Tom Randall

BACKGROUND: U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announced today that he is recommending to President Bush that the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository be opened for storing the nation’s nuclear waste ­ waste that currently is now in nearly 100 locations scattered around the country.

TEN SECOND RESPONSE: It is essential to our national security that we move our nuclear waste to this single, secure, safe location, rather than have it all around the country.

THIRTY SECOND RESPONSE: Moving all of our nuclear waste to a single, secure location in Yucca Mountain is the only responsible thing to do. It should have been done years ago but the previous administration did not have the courage to make the decision. President Bush and Secretary Abraham are to be complimented for putting the safety and security of the American people ahead of politics. Others in Washington and the state of Nevada should do the same.

DISCUSSION: Nuclear physicists around the country have concluded that the only serious vulnerability to terrorist attack on our nuclear facilities is the storage ponds for spent fuel found at nearly every nuclear plant site. Yucca Mountain would be invulnerable to such attack. See National Policy Analysis #374, “Terrorism and Nuclear Power: What are the Risks?” by physicists Gerald E. Marsh and George S. Stanford at https://nationalcenter.org/NPA374.html.

For information on the Integral Fast Reactor, which could change Yucca Mountain from a long term repository to a shorter term, temporary storage facility, read National Policy Analysis #378, “Integral Fast Reactors: Source of Safe, Abundant, Non-Polluting Power” by George S. Stanford, Ph.D. at https://nationalcenter.org/NPA378.html.