Case Study Yucca Mountain

Yucca Mountain: Just Do Something The Nuclear Waste Repository at Yucca Mountain is an empty, $15 billion, 32-mile-long hole in the ground. If federal legislators fail to come to a consensus on the storage of our ever increasing stockpile of nuclear waste, the results could be fiscally, environmentally, and politically toxic.
Congress’ on again, off again relationship with the Nuclear Waste Repository at Yucca Mountain has left the facility dormant. Ironic, as Yucca Mountain is, in fact, a relic of volcanic activity. Eruptions at the site ended approximately 10 million years ago, leaving a structure largely comprised of a volcanic rock known as tuff. Tuff, a dense mixture of ash, gas, and crystalline minerals, provides a natural barrier to any nuclear waste penetrating the water table deep beneath Yucca Mountain.
Its location,

The decentralization of nuclear waste storage across nearly 100 nuclear energy facilities will continue to stretch regulatory and security resources thin, as operators begin to use dry waste casks that sit outside, in open air, near a main storage facility. The construction of these casks is funded entirely by the federal government in order to satisfy the storage requirements of individual facilities. Requirements that have increased as a result of a reluctance to utilize Yucca Mountain.
As a matter of fiduciary responsibility, the federal government has failed to utilize its citizen’s money in an effective manner. By kicking the radioactive can down the road, obstructive politicians will force the government to repay the approximate $31 billion it has collected from providers since 1982, including the money used to construct the Nuclear Repository. These costs will continue to climb as nuclear energy facilities continue to charge the federal government for nuclear waste