[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23807]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 23807]]

     NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE AT YUCCA MOUNTAIN COULD LEAD TO DISASTER

  (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, we have been fortunate that a nuclear 
accident like the recent disaster at a Japanese uranium processing 
plant has not occurred in the United States in the last 3 decades.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to hold on to their gas masks 
because things could change.
  A recent article in the Las Vegas Review Journal clearly stated that 
``a nuclear chain reaction similar to the one that released dangerous 
levels of radiation from a Japanese uranium plant could happen with 
spent fuel the U.S. Government wants to store at Yucca Mountain.''
  Unfortunately, the Department of Energy continues to ignore the 
scientific facts and warnings offered by the nuclear energy experts. 
Scientists have already concluded that water will drip through the 
porous rock barrier and accelerate corrosion of the nuclear waste 
containers, potentially causing a reaction similar to the Japanese 
nuclear disaster.
  Mr. Speaker, this Congress cannot in good faith place the lives of 
thousands of citizens living in the surrounding area of Yucca Mountain 
in peril. The plan to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain is simply 
unwarranted, unwise, and dangerous. We can and must prevent such a 
disaster.

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