Nevada, National and International News

Andre Landim Fernandes Tackles Sustainability And Nuclear Waste Challenges Amid Climate Crisis

Despite decades of research and debate, the country still lacks a permanent solution for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste, with plans for a permanent repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada stalled due to political and regulatory hurdles (National Research Council, 2021).

100,000 years and counting: how do we tell future generations about highly radioactive nuclear waste repositories?

Yet nuclear energy production requires managing what is known as “spent” nuclear fuel where major problems arise about how best to safeguard these waste materials into the future – especially should nuclear energy production increase. Short-term storage facilities have been in place for decades, but the question of their long-term deposition has caused intense political debates, with a number of projects being delayed or cancelled entirely. In the United States, work on the Yucca Mountain facility has stopped completely leaving the country with 93 nuclear reactors and no long-term storage site for the waste they produce.

March 18, 2024

Danielle Endres Discusses Indigenous Resistance to Nuclear Waste

One of the events Endres covers in her book is the nuclear waste repository that was established on Yucca Mountain in 2002. After fierce resistance from the Shoshone people, Congress defunded the project in 2006 and it was later abandoned by the Barack Obama administration. After abandoning the project, the administration enacted a Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. The commission released a report in 2012 that recommended a consent-based siting for storing nuclear waste.

No point finishing Yucca Mountain licensing — it's a waste of money

In 2008 the U.S. Department of Energy applied to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to construct a geologic repository for the permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste (including spent nuclear fuel) at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The application hearing process has been idle since September 30, 2011.

The False Promise of Carbon Capture as a Climate Solution

After the U.S. government spent billions evaluating a potential civilian nuclear waste disposal site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, the proposal failed in part because scientists could not guarantee that the waste would stay put.

The DOE spent more than 20 years evaluating Yucca Mountain.

The False Promise of Carbon Capture as a Climate Solution

After the U.S. government spent billions evaluating a potential civilian nuclear waste disposal site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, the proposal failed in part because scientists could not guarantee that the waste would stay put.

But site characterization takes time that we don't have. The DOE spent more than 20 years evaluating Yucca Mountain.