Q. Where is Yucca Mountain?

A. Yucca Mountain is located approximately 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas on federal land, and is adjacent to the Nevada Test Site.

Q. How much has the Department of Energy spent on Nuclear Waste Disposal?  

A. The DOE has spent more than $9 billion.

Q. How long has the DOE been working on the project?

A. In 1986, the DOE selected three Western sites in Nevada, Washington and Texas for detailed investigation, one of which was Yucca Mountain. In 1987, Congress amended the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, singling out Yucca Mountain as the only location for the DOE to study as a nuclear waste repository.

Q. Where is nuclear waste stored now?

A. Spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste are temporarily stored at 131 locations in 39 states.

Q. If the repository at Yucca Mountain opens, when will it be ready to accept waste?

A. The latest official estimate by the DOE is 2017, nearly 20years behind the agencys original schedule of 1998.

Q. Is this a firm deadline?

A. No. In fact, Ward Sproat, director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, has said, Bottom line is while that (2017) is a best achievable schedule, the most probable schedule is probably in the neighborhood of plus three and a half years. Thus, according to the DOE, Yucca Mountain Project is unlikely to open before 2020.

Q. How much nuclear waste will be transported to Yucca Mountain?

A.  Approximately 70,000 metric tons.

Q. Has a transportation route been selected?

A.  No. The DOE is presently studying and reviewing several options. One option calls for building a railroad line from Hawthorne in northern Nevada to the Yucca Mountain site. Costs of constructing this Mina Corridor route, including laying 209 miles of track, have been estimated at more than $1 billion. Another option that would run from Caliente, Nevada, to Yucca Mountain would cost an estimated $2 billion.
A. The federal government has been hauling low-level waste by truck for 50 years.    

Q.  Are any low-level shipments going through Clark County now?

A. Yes. Over three-month period in 2006, 362 low-level waste shipments in 313 trucks, went up Interstate 15 to State Route 160, the dangerous and highly congested (and still under construction) Blue Diamond Road.

Q.  Are residents along potential transportation routes concerned about living so close to where an accident could possibly release radiation?

A. Yes. In fact, a Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that 90 percent of Silver Springs homeowners interviewed opposed a proposal to haul nuclear waste through their community in rural Lyon County.

Q.  What is spent nuclear fuel?

A. To make electricity, nuclear reactors use fuel made of solid ceramic pellets of enriched uranium. These uranium pellets are about the size of a pencil eraser. These pellets are sealed in metal tubes, which are bundled together to form a nuclear fuel assembly. The energy produced by nuclear fuel produces a tremendous amount of heat. This heat boils water into steam, that then turns giant turbines, which generate electricity. After about three or four years of use, these uranium pellets are no longer effective and must be removed from the nuclear reactor. After removal, the entire assembly (now called spent nuclear fuel) is highly radioactive.

Q.  How will the heat from radioactivity be contained at Yucca Mountain?

A. The amount of heat generated by radioactive decay is termed a thermal load. The arrangement of the spent nuclear fuel within the mountain will determine the actual levels of heat within the facility. DOE scientists are still studying how best to manage the heat generated by the radioactive contents stored at Yucca  Mountain. Many questions still remain to be answered about how the rock at Yucca Mountain will respond to high temperatures over a long period of time.

Q.  Who opposes Yucca Mountain?

A. Clark County, the State of Nevada, the City of Las Vegas and most major municipalities throughout the state have gone on record as opposing this project. Officials from Boulder City, Henderson, the City of North Las Vegas, and Mesquite all have expressed their concerns about this project.

Q. What about Indian tribes?

A. Indian tribes from numerous states have expressed their opposition to Yucca Mountain, but to no avail. Tribes such at the Las Vegas Paiutes, the Moapa Band of Paiutes and the Fort Mohave Tribe, among many others, have expressed their staunch opposition to Yucca Mountain.

Q. Will Yucca Mountain generate jobs?

A. The number of jobs directly caused by a repository at Yucca Mountain is unclear. When the DOE proposed the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant repository in Carlsbad, New Mexico, the promise of employment and other economic benefit was stressed. In reality, jobs fell very short of the expectation of area residents.

Q. Will indirect employment result from Yucca Mountain?

A. Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant, located 16 miles northwest of Denver, contributed a positive economic impact for 40 years, providing thousands of jobs. However, it has not been without cost to the community, including a number of on-site accidents and off-site releases of hazardous substances. Real estate market studies indicated concern about the risks associated with Rocky Flats and development was restricted in certain areas.

Q. The business climate is so positive in Nevada; so how can the potential of a national repository make any difference?

A.  According to bankers and appraisers in Clark County, commercial and industrial economic development is highly competitive. Yucca Mountain is seen as a disamenity that could dampen our competitive position.

Q. Whats the gaming industrys position on Yucca Mountain?

A. The Nevada Resort Association passed a resolution on Sept. 11, 1991, stating that any news about the transportation of radioactive materials...could cause special damage to the reputation enjoyed by Las Vegas and the success of its tourism promotion efforts.

Q. Are stigma impacts legitimate concerns?

A. Stigma impacts are real. Nuclear science and its technologies are among the great achievements of the 20th century. While providing an abundant source of energy, it also has created the stigmatization of places associated with a nuclear facility, particularly with residential properties. Public responses have consistently indicated fear of the dangers connected to man-made radiation and long-term exposure. For example, a study by the University of New Mexico found that property values declined in populous urban areas of South Carolina during the period of foreign reactor fuel shipments in the early 1990s due to perception of risk.

Q. Will commercial property values be affected if Yucca Mountain opens?

A.   Surveys with real estate professionals in Clark County were asked about their views concerning potential nuclear waste transportation impacts on nearby commercial or business property. Of those surveyed, 40.7 percent indicated commercial property would decrease in value. 

Q. Should Nevada negotiate for benefits?

A. No. Negotiating for benefits in exchange for accepting high-level nuclear waste is neither fiscally sound nor ethically and morally acceptable. Simply put, Nevadas public safety is not for sale. It just doesnt make sense to consider questionable short-term gain at the expense of the well-being of future generations. 

Q. What is Clark Countys position on Yucca Mountain?

A. The county has passed resolutions opposing the Yucca Mountain Project since 1985.

Q. What are the potential costs to local governments?

A. The most significant unfunded liability to local communities is in preparedness costs for public safety. The most current studies estimate a total of more than $3.7 billion for Clark County, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Mesquite.

Q. Is Yucca Mountain a done deal?

A. No. There are many legislative steps and procedures the Department of Energy must complete to move the project forward. The first major step is to receive a repository construction license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.   

Q. Does anyone live near Yucca Mountain?

A. Presently, approximately 1,600 people live in the closest community to Yucca Mountain.

Q. Isn't Yucca Mountain a desolate area where nothing lives?

A. No. The Yucca Mountain area is home to diverse desert wildlife such as many species of birds, insects, reptiles, deer, as well as dozens of plant types.  People live in the region, too. Additionally, the area is considered sacred ground by Indian tribes.

Q. Are the transportation canisters safe?

A. Thus far, the canisters exist only in DOE computer models.

Q. What is the GNEP and how does it fit in? 

A. The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership is the federal governments proposal to accelerate the use of nuclear fuel to meet growing electricity demands. The GNEP model requires development and sharing of technologies on a global scale to recover energy through recycling nuclear fuel.

Q. What is the fix Yucca bill?

A. Introduced by Senator Domenici, the Nuclear Fuel Management and Disposal Act (S.2589) exempts shipments to Yucca Mountain from existing federal regulations including the Hazardous Materials Transportation Authorization Act, essentially making the DOE self-regulated on spent fuel shipments. It also authorizes the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Transportation to preempt any state, tribal, or local law.

Q. How long will the mountain be hot if nuclear fuel is stored there?

A. Nobody knows for sure. The Environmental Protection Agency standard issued in 2001 was overturned by the courts. New radiation standards were released in 2005 with a two-part standard, one set of radiation limits for the first 10,000 years, and a second standard for succeeding years up to one million years. 

Q. Are theyre any alternatives to Yucca Mountain?

A. Yes. Clark County endorses dry storage as an alternative to a nuclear waste repository. In fact, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that spent nuclear fuel can safely be stored at nuclear reactor sites in dry storage casks for at least the next 100 years.

Q. Are there any other disposal methods being considered?

A. Some disposal methods being considered are:

1. Nanotechnology to separate and neutralize waste elements;

2. Transmutation to convert waste elements into less harmful material;

3. Genetically engineered microbes to eat the waste elements;

4. Reprocessing to remove useable fuels and higher-level radionuclides;

5. High-energy magnetic fields to separate waste components.

Q. What do people in Southern Nevada think about Yucca Mountain?

A. Clark County-commissioned opinion poll shows that the countys population ranks the Yucca Mountain Project at 5th or 6th in overall importance (with the countys growth as the sole variable).

Q. What kinds of proactive measures is Clark County taking to address this issue?

A. Our Nuclear Waste Program staff consists of experts in various fields who conduct and/or manage ongoing scientific and technical oversight of water, volcano and earthquake studies; transportation issues; impact assessment, bi-annual opinion surveys; economic indicator monitoring program; and public outreach.