Yucca Mountain is strongly opposed by the State of Nevada:
Yucca Mountain is a singularly bad site to house the nation’s high-level nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel. “The Fight Against Yucca Mountain”
The Yucca Mountain site should be disqualified for the following reasons:
- Violates Environmental Justice
Mothers for Peace supports the sovereign Western Shoshone Nation in its fight to keep the nation’s nuclear waste from being buried in its ancestral hunting and gathering grounds and sacred area. It is a violation of the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley which recognizes Shoshone territorial sovereignty. Ownership of the land is contested.
- Location and Geology
Yucca Mountain is located 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Nevada ranks third in the United States for current seismic activity. Department of Energy scientists have confirmed the presence of a major geologic fault and other fractures in the mountain’s rock formation. The site is also porous and incapable of geologically containing the waste safely.
Yucca’s freshwater aquifer drains to the Amargosa Valley, one of Nevada’s most productive agricultural regions and the most important water source for the residents of Amorgosa Valley, Las Vegas, and some areas of California.
- Limited Space
Yucca Mountain cannot contain the amount of waste the industry has created – an amount increasing by more than 2,000 tons each year.
Mothers for Peace advocates nuclear waste be kept onsite – or as close to the point of generation as possible – in the safest way until a protective, just, and permanent solution is created.