Visualizing Environmental Science

Nuclear waste

receiving building

Hoist

building

Filter

house

Administration

building

1000 feet

Rock strata

Steel waste

canisters containing

spent nuclear fuel

Mine

level

Ventilation

shaft

Waste

shaft

Tunnel

Shaft

for people,

material

Tunnel network

Peter Essick/Aurora Photos

a. This tunnel provides access to nuclear waste storage at Yucca

Mountain, an arid, sparsely populated area of Nevada.

b. An environmental scientist thinks about the huge complex

of interconnected tunnels located in dense volcanic rock 300 m

(1000 ft) beneath the mountain crest. Canisters containing

high-level radioactive waste can be stored in the tunnels.

Nuclear Energy 437

be operational by 1998. (The deadline was postponed
several times.)
In a 1987 amendment to the Nuclear Waste Policy
Act, Congress identified Yucca Mountain in Nevada as
the only candidate for a permanent underground stor-
age site for high-level radioactive wastes from commer-
cially operated power plants (see What a Scientist Sees).
Since 1983 the U.S. Department of Energy has spent
billions of dollars conducting feasibility studies on
Yucca Mountain’s geology. In 2002 Congress approved
the choice of Yucca Mountain as the U.S. nuclear-waste

repository, despite controversy and opposition from

the state of Nevada. In 2009 the Obama administra-

tion withdrew support for Yucca Mountain; as of 2012,

a new siting process had not been announced.

Transporting high-level wastes from nuclear reactors

and weapons sites is a major concern of opponents of the

Yucca Mountain site. A typical shipment would travel an

average of 3700 km (2300 mi), and 43 states would have

waste passing through them on their way to Yucca Mountain.

Whether or not nuclear waste is eventually stored in

Yucca Mountain, the scientific community generally agrees

WHAT A SCIENTIST SEES

Yucca Mountain