[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 30 (Thursday, March 4, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H1153]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 YUCCA MOUNTAIN IS NO LONGER AN OPTION

  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, during the campaign, President Obama 
pledged to Nevadans that he would kill the Yucca Mountain nuclear 
repository project. He has kept his word.
  Yesterday, the Energy Department moved to pull the license for the 
dump. The President's blue ribbon panel will meet this month to find an 
alternative to Yucca Mountain. But I think it is important for me to 
reexplain why the opposition to Yucca Mountain is so strong, not only 
throughout the State of Nevada, but throughout the United States.
  There is a very long history here. As we refer to it in Nevada, the 
so-called ``Screw Nevada'' bill that was passed over two decades ago 
decided there were three sites that were supposed to be considered for 
the disposition of nuclear waste. All of a sudden, in the ``Screw 
Nevada'' bill there was one State, and we had the honor of being 
selected as the State that got screwed by the United States Congress. 
So this was always a political decision. It never was based on sound 
science.
  Let me tell you what the proposal of this bill was: 77,000 tons of 
toxic radioactive nuclear waste being shipped across 43 States to be 
buried in a hole in the Nevada desert where we have groundwater issues, 
seismic activity and volcanic activity, and 90 miles from a major 
population center in the western United States.
  This was never based on sound science, and it never was a viable 
option. However, for the last 20-some odd years, it has been the option 
that this Congress and the former administration wanted to foist on the 
American people.
  Now, let me explain what some of the things are that are wrong with 
this. First of all, there is no safe way to transport 77,000 tons of 
toxic radioactive nuclear waste across 43 States. It would take 300,000 
trips either on our highways or on our rails across this country where 
we would be going past schools and hospitals and residential areas in 
order to get to Nevada. Now, just statistically, there would have been 
X number of accidents when you have 300,000 shipments.
  Also, after 9/11 we became painfully aware of the potential for a 
terrorist attack. What would prevent a terrorist from attacking a 
nuclear train that was bringing this nuclear waste to the State of 
Nevada? That is number one.
  Number two, there is no canister that exists that could safely store 
the waste. This was the initial proposal. Yucca Mountain was supposed 
to be a natural depository that would collapse on itself once it was 
full. Well, what do you know? They found out that it wasn't bone dry. 
There is moisture in Yucca Mountain. So then they said, well, let's 
create a canister to store the waste. Of course, no canister exists. 
But they did say there was the possibility that the cannister would 
leach into the groundwater.
  So then they said, well, what we will do, since the mountain is not a 
natural repository and the canisters don't exist, and if they did exist 
they couldn't protect the groundwater from the leaching of nuclear 
waste into the groundwater, so we will have titanium shields over the 
canisters that don't exist in Yucca Mountain that isn't a natural 
repository.
  Then they came up with the brilliant plan in the last administration 
that there would be an army of robots, because it would be too 
dangerous for human beings to go down to Yucca Mountain, so an army of 
robots that would have to be invented would go down to Yucca Mountain 
to seal the canisters that don't exist with the titanium shields in 
Yucca Mountain that isn't a natural repository. This is what we have 
been dealing with for over two decades.
  Also, there are EPA standards. They said 10,000 years. Well, the U.S. 
Circuit Court of Appeals overruled that because, do you know what? The 
shelf life of nuclear waste is 300,000 years. So that made no sense 
either.
  The nuclear industry and its allies continue to talk about putting 
nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. That plan is so dead, because 
the State of Nevada supports the President of the United States, who 
has finally pulled the plug on this ridiculous program.
  There is no magic money tree. This is going to cost billions and 
billions of dollars. Where are we getting that money? Nevada doesn't 
have a money tree.
  Do you know what else Nevada doesn't have, Mr. Speaker? We don't have 
any water. We are in the middle of a desert, and it takes millions of 
gallons of water in order to cool the nuclear waste. So I don't know 
where they are expecting to get the water, but they ought to take a 
look at the map, because there is no water in the State of Nevada. We 
are in the middle of a desert.

                              {time}  1630

  So I want to thank the President of the United States for honoring 
his promises. This blue ribbon panel will finally meet and start the 
process of finding an alternative to Yucca Mountain. If this country is 
going to rely on nuclear energy in the future, we'd better finally 
figure out a way of what to do with the nuclear waste. I support the 
President and the blue ribbon panel. I wish them well.

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