Urge Your Representatives to Stop Nuclear Waste from Rolling Down Your Street

The Department of Energy is proposing designating Yucca Mountain as a nuclear storage facility. This would spark the largest nuclear waste shipment plan ever undertaken. 100,000 shipments rolling through our backyards. Tell your representative this is unacceptable.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Oppose Nuclear Dump at Yucca Mountain

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Please oppose plans for a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The project poses unacceptable risks to human health and the environment across the country.

The science behind Yucca is not sound. The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board recently stated that many important scientific questions about the safety of the site remain unresolved. According to a recent General Accounting Office report, there are over 250 significant unresolved technical issues with the Yucca Mountain site.

I am also deeply concerned about the transportation of nuclear waste. Approving Yucca Mountain will mean roughly 100,000 shipments of highly irradiated nuclear waste on roads and rails passing through 45 states and 320 congressional districts, over the next 30 years. The State of Nevada is poised reject the designation of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste dump, then the decision to override Nevada's rejection will come to Congress. I urge you to reject Yucca Mountain as a permanent nuclear waste depository.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
April 05, 2002

Background Information

Secretary of Energy Abraham recently endorsed a dangerous plan for Nevada's Yucca Mountain. He's urging us to turn Yucca Mountain into a nuclear waste dump that will threaten the health and safety of Americans nationwide. The problem isn't just storing this radioactive gunk -- it's also about how we are going to get it there. Approving the Yucca Mountain storage facility will launch the largest nuclear waste shipment plan ever undertaken. We're talking 100,000 shipments of highly irradiated nuclear waste hitting the roads and rails passing through 45 states and 320 congressional districts -- over the next 30 years.

Decisions on what to do with the most dangerous substance we have created must be grounded in science, not speed. The science behind Yucca is simply sketchy. Even the Department of Energy's own scientists have admitted that the mountain leaks and that the storage canisters are predicted to fail. Despite the fact that this is a bad plan, Secretary Abraham is gung ho -- he's gonna tell President Bush to ignore the science and move the waste.

Fortunately, Americans aren't buying it. A recent poll found that 82% of those surveyed do not want to live near a nuclear waste transport route. Americans will not stand for nuclear waste shipments passing near communities, schools, parks and hospitals. And Nevadans are so up in arms that they've convinced the State of Nevada to reject the nuclear waste dump, which means the decision to override Nevada's rejection will come to Congress.

Going forward with this plan perpetuates the kind of foolish policy that has plagued nuclear energy since we first split the atom. Environmental organizations agree that this is not the time to start moving dangerous nuclear waste around especially since we don't know it's going to be stored safely. Now, it's time to tell our representatives to vote against the selection of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a permanent repository for high level nuclear waste.

TAKE ACTION NOW:

FOR MORE INFO: **Public Citizen Issue Briefing http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/nuclear_waste/hi-level/yucca/ **Las Vegas Sun Article 04-05-02 http://www.lasvegassun.com/dossier/nuke/ **State of Nevada's Position http://www.igc.apc.org/citizenalert/fctshts/yucca2.html