[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 51 (Tuesday, April 30, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H1691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 TAINTED WATER SUPPLY AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, on such a beautiful sunny day here in the 
Nation's Capitol, do we not think it might be refreshing to once in a 
while have a drink from a glass of cool refreshing water? Would we 
trust that water if it was from a well in southern Nevada 20 years from 
now?
  Well, Mr. Speaker, are my colleagues aware that Yucca Mountain, 
Nevada, the space designated for the world's high-level nuclear waste 
dump, sits on a water reservoir? And are my colleagues aware that the 
Department of Energy has admitted that the rate of water infiltration 
into Yucca Mountain is 100 times higher than that which the Federal 
Government originally intended for the site? And did my colleagues know 
that even the smallest earthquake at Yucca Mountain could jar the 
repository, could break the casks that hold this high-level nuclear 
waste? If my colleagues knew that this glass of water may contain 
radioactive nuclides from spent fuel, they would not drink it.
  Well, Mr. Speaker, Nevadans will not either. Storing spent fuel at 
Yucca Mountain, Nevada is a dangerous endeavor and needs to be stopped, 
for Nevada and for every American.

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