Danger Underground: Nuclear Waste Disposal in Yucca Mountain Essay

Danger Underground: Nuclear Waste Disposal in Yucca Mountain Introduction The U.S. Department of Energy has proposed plans to deposit 70,000 tons of highly radioactive waste underground Yucca Mountain in Nevada. While many environmental questions and concerns have been raised about the safety of the waste disposal plan for the next 10,000 years, there appears to be no alternative. Waste from nuclear weapons and nuclear power plants are a serious environmental problem that will be present for generations to come. It should be society's responsibility to come up with more efficient sources of energy, despite the costs, to prevent the production of more hazardous waste in the future. The "nuclear age" produced 52,000 tons of spent fuel from commercial, military, and research reactors, along with 91 million gallons of radioactive waste from plutonium processing (Long 12). More than 90% of the waste that needs to be stored is from commercial nuclear power plants, and 10% is from defense programs (Environmental Protection Agency/ Yucca Mtn. Standards). The waste from defense programs primarily accumulated during the arms race of the Cold War. Waste produced from commercial nuclear power plants is currently stored in 131 separate facilities in 43 different states, most of which are east of the Mississippi (Wheelwright 2002). Several government departments are responsible for taking care of all this waste. The Department of Energy (DOE) runs the nuclear facilities and supervises cleanup performed by commercial contractors. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for setting health and environmental waste standards for the long-term storage of waste produced by these facilities. The Department of Transportati... ... 2002. www.sacredland.org/yucca_mountain.html The Yucca Mountain Project. 2002. Referenced on 7 October 2002. www.ymp.gov/ U.S. Department of Energy: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. 2002. Referenced on 11 Nov. 2002. www.eren.doe.gov/RE/solar.html U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/ Yucca Mtn. Standards. 2002. Referenced on 7 October 2002. www.epa.gov/radiation/yucca/about.htm Watson, Roland. "Nevada Outraged by Eternal Dump for Nuclear Waste." The Times 24 Sept. 2002 Newspaper Source. Palni Site Search. Goshen College Good Library. 7 Oct. 2002. Wheelright, Jeff. "Once There Was A Mountain in the Desert of Nevada." Discover 23 (Sept. 2002): 66-76. Academic Search Elite. Palni Site Search. Goshen College Good Library. 3 Nov.2002. Why Not Yucca Mountain? 2002. Referenced on 7 October 2002. www.nvantinuclear.org/