[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 38 (Thursday, March 30, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H1368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             YUCCA MOUNTAIN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, earlier this morning, I came to the floor 
of the House and stood in the well to tell the American people about a 
cartoon character by the name of Yucca Mountain Johnny that the 
Department of Energy has created which has been funded by the taxpayers 
of the United States of America.
  The purpose of creating this cartoon character is to help convince 
the children of the State of Nevada that storing radioactive toxic 
nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is okay for them. It is bad 
enough that the Department of Energy has been trying to convince the 
people of the State of Nevada and the United States of America that 
shipping 77,000 tons of toxic nuclear waste across 43 States to be 
buried in a hole in the middle of the Nevada desert where we have got 
groundwater problems, seismic activity, volcanic activity, is good for 
the health and well being of this Nation.
  It is not. And Yucca Mountain Johnny has got to be dumped before 
there is a nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain. But the latest thing that 
has just occurred that I want to share with the American people, 
through you, Mr. Speaker, is it makes Yucca Mountain Johnny pale in 
comparison.

                              {time}  1530

  Let me read to you what came over the wire today that I read: ``The 
U.S. military plans to detonate a 700-ton explosive charge that will 
send a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas. `I don't want to sound glib,' 
says the head of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, `but it is the 
first time in Nevada that you will see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas 
since we stopped testing nuclear weapons.' ''
  Well, it isn't glib to me, Mr. Speaker. It is a very serious thing 
when I have an administration official, the head of an agency, stating 
that he is going to detonate a 700-ton bomb that is going to send a 
mushroom cloud over the community that I represent, where my parents 
live, my children live, and 700,000 Nevadans live as well. So I called 
this gentleman, and I asked him to please explain this quote.
  Glib? He is going to send a mushroom cloud, detonate a mushroom cloud 
over Las Vegas, Nevada. Well, he said, it was a poor choice of words, 
but that is what we are going to do. So I asked him, When is it going 
to take place? It is going to take place in June. I said, Is it really 
going to be a mushroom cloud over the State of Nevada. Isn't that a tad 
insensitive given the fact that we had nuclear experiments and weapons 
detonated at the Nevada test sites in the fifties and the sixties? He 
said, Well, it might have been a little insensitive, but that's what we 
are doing.
  So I said, Well, is it going to be over Las Vegas? Well, not really 
Las Vegas. I misspoke. It is going to be at the Nevada test site. I 
said, Well, will we be able to see it from Las Vegas? Yes, you're going 
to be able to see it from Las Vegas. Well, how big is it going to be? 
Well, we don't know yet how big it is going to be. I said, Well, where 
at the Nevada test site is it going to be detonated? He said, Well, we 
are doing studies, and it is going to be detonated in a place that is 
safe.
  I said, Well, how can it be safe when there were over 900 nuclear 
detonations in the fifties and sixties and that land is very toxic and 
very radioactive? He said, Well, we are going to do it in a place that 
isn't radioactive, although he couldn't tell me where, he couldn't tell 
me how.
  If I can continue reading this, he says: ``We also have,'' are you 
ready for this, this man doesn't realize how serious what he is 
proposing is, ``we also have,'' are you ready for this, ``a 700-ton 
explosively formed charge that we're going to be putting in a tunnel in 
Nevada.''
  So I said to him, Well, if it's in a tunnel, how come we are going to 
get a mushroom cloud? Oh, well, I wasn't quite right about that either. 
It's not really in a tunnel. It's going to be above ground. I said, 
Well, how can it be above ground at the Nevada test site and not 
disturb the dirt that is radioactive? He said, Well, we're taking care 
of that too. I said, What happens if there's wind? Is the wind going to 
be blowing this mushroom cloud to Las Vegas? Is it going to Utah? He 
couldn't tell me that either.
  This is a serious issue for the people of the State of Nevada. It's 
bad enough that we didn't get prior notice, and obviously the 
congressional delegation wasn't briefed; but the people of the State of 
Nevada haven't been briefed either. But if you look further at this 
press release that has been sent out, it says the Russians, the 
Russians have been notified of this test. So we have notified the 
Russians. We just neglected to notify the Americans?
  I think this is a bad idea. We need more information. And before you 
start detonating 700-ton explosive devices at Nevada test site, we'd 
better do a thorough study of the environmental impact. Because if you 
are going to be disturbing that dirt that is radioactive and having a 
mushroom cloud out of Las Vegas, the people of Las Vegas, the people of 
the State of Nevada better know about it, and we better stop this 
madness if that is what is going to happen.
  So I call upon this Defense Threat Reduction Agency to work with my 
office, work with the congressional delegation from Nevada, and let's 
figure out if we can maybe put this explosive detonation some place 
else where there aren't 1.6 million southern Nevadans and hundreds of 
thousands of tourists in the Las Vegas area at the time.

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