Introduction:
The task we are in charge with is determining if Yucca Mountain is a suitable long term nuclear waste disposal site, if it is a suitable short term nuclear waste site until other sites are found or other scientific ways to dispose of the waste are found, and lastly if Yucca Mountain is not determined to be a long or short term option for nuclear waste disposal. Option one would be to go ahead with the Yucca Mountain plan of long term storage since it is the only answer we have currently for nuclear waste. Option two would be to use Yucca Mountain as a short term storage unit until we find another more stable site or if we find a way to deactivate the radioactivity in the waste. The last option is to not use Yucca Mountain as a short or long term storage unit because the site is shown to have water leakage and would therefore contaminate the surrounding area.
Option One:
In 1987 Congress amended the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) which made the department of energy (DOE) responsible for investigation and determination of the Yucca Mountain site. For more than twenty years the DOE has investigated and come up with preliminary designs for the mountain. Option one is to continue with the plan to use Yucca Mountain as the permanent storage site for nuclear waste. Yucca Mountain would function by Receiving spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in shipping casks certified by the NRC, then unloading, handling, and packaging spent nuclear fuel and
Sean Whaley wrote, “State to Keep Battling Yucca” for Las Vegas Review-Journal. Here we go again, Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage controversy. The most irritating part of this debate brought up within this article is that the politicians fail to tell the whole truth. As I once informed Senator Reid, “When it come to nuclear waste it is easier to scare people to vote for you than telling the truth and the advantages for Nevada.” To sum up, the article; Nevada will fight all efforts to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. According to the article Nevada will spend more than $7.5 million with a Virgina legal firm Egan and Associates. Hiring an out of state law firm is also irritating on the back of the largest tax increase passed by State
Earlier this year the Havasupai Tribe and a coalition of conservation groups sued the United States Forest Service for allowing Energy Fuel Resources Inc. to operate a mine under a 1986 federal environmental review without tribal consultation. The Canyon mine was previously in non-operational status due to low uranium stock prices in 1992. Opponents of the uranium mining operation want the federal environmental review updated and
This research paper discusses the Three Mile Island incident to include what started it, the results in the aftermath, and how it could have been prevented. The Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) reactor, near Middletown, Pa., partially melted down on March 28, 1979. This was the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history, although its small radioactive releases had no detectable health effects on plant workers or the public. Its aftermath brought about sweeping changes involving emergency response planning, reactor operator training, human factors engineering, radiation protection, and many other areas of nuclear power plant operations. It also caused the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) to tighten and
In Jan. 2011, the EPA decided to veto the dumping of waste from the Spruce No. 1 Mine. But the agency’s efforts have so far been rebuffed by the courts as an overreach: Under the weird legal regime that governs mining, it’s the Army Corps of Engineers, not the EPA, which has the ultimate say-so over those permits. In 2012, the D.C. district court ruled that EPA lacked authority to veto the permit after the Corps had issued it. However, in fact EPA's decision is based on evidence from scientific research on serious environmental harm from mining. In May 2013, a coalition of Appalachian and environmental groups petitioned the EPA to set a numeric water quality standard under the Clean Water Act to protect streams from pollution caused by mountaintop removal mining . They claimed that “State politics and industry pressure have so far failed to end this pollution without such a standard and more and more streams and communities who rely on those waters are left vulnerable. We need EPA to act now.” The EPA’s authority over the Clean Water Act in respect to Spruce Mine No. 1 was finally affirmed by the Supreme Court in March 2014.
Institutions, such as museums and colleges, and industrial companies still do not comply with NAGPRA. One of the most-recent concert example is the Dakota Access Pipeline company. Jan Hasselman, an attorney representing the Standing Rock Sioux, filed evidence indicating the discoveries of some sacred and major culturally significant sites were directly in the pipeline’s route; the following day, instead of the construction halting, the Dakota Access Pipeline continued and destroyed multiple grave sites (Goodman). The problems Native Americans face, regarding non-compliance, is a crucial topic. Not complying with
by getting all the work out of him that he can, then selling him to
Drilling oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is a serious issue for environmentalists and for the future of the United States. Should the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge be opened to oil drilling? This paper will debate whether or not we should allow Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to be opened to oil drilling. This will also show the impact it has on the environment, and I will show a critical analysis of the current issue of whether or not to drill.
The energy sector has seen a dramatic change over the past decade. Exploring other sources of energy has become common in the United States. An increase in unconventional sources of energy, including hydraulic fracturing, has surged a debate that has impacted state as well as local governments. With an increase in production, arguments have emerged that both oppose and approve of new practices. However, local government has lost its autonomy when dealing with such topics, especially in Colorado. Looking at the many concerns from the citizens of communities affected by fracking, it is clear that the state should allow cities the right to ban practices that they are concerned for and need time to evaluate.
Recently, a contractor working for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unintentionally released 3 million gallons of toxic mine waste into the Animas River in the Mountain West state of Colorado. Today, people in the US are debating the efficacy of the EPA (the right-wing is using the spill as anti-government propaganda) and the toxic aftermath the spill will undoubtedly have on local economies, communities and ecosystems. So far, the spill has "contaminated the Animas River, San Juan River, and the Colorado River in Utah."
In 1982, Congress passed the nuclear waste policy act that said the Department of Energy (DOE) was to build and operate a repository for used nuclear fuel and other highly radioactive waste (NEI). The DOE had until 1998 to find a location and build a site. In 1987, the nuclear waste policy act was amended and the DOE was told to study the Yucca Mountains only because it was a remote desert location (NEI). Even thought it is a desert location it still affects the nearby civilizations. The federal government in 2008 filed a construction license application to
South Dakota was one of the states that provided a great amount of uranium to be used during the 50’s, 60’s and the Cold War era. The demand of uranium increased and the constructions of mines were also increased. One of the areas that needed uranium was the military to be used in weapons ammunition and vehicles. Most of these mines were abandoned and the contamination spread around the nearby land and waters. “An earlier study of Forest Service land, on which the old mines from the 1950s and 1960s are located, found levels of arsenic, uranium and other contaminants in concentrations higher than what occurs naturally” (Walker, 2007). Some of these waste was carry down by rain precipitation to areas away from the mine. Indian reservations were affected by the mine contamination and
An African American teen, struggles to overcome the hardships of society, wishing to be wealthy. He struggles to overcome the hardships of society, having a lack of resources, few family members he can rely on, and has few friends that he can trust.
This accident has been, by far the worst nuclear power plant accident within the borders of the United States.However, the studies conducted by governmental groups such as the Nuclear Regulatory Committee (NRC), the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health, Department of Energy, and the State of Pennsylvania as well as numerous independent organizations have deemed that the accident at Three Mile Island had very little, if an at all, effects on the health of the communities surrounding the plant.[8]
As an eighth grader in the United States of America, I have grown up with an African American president for more than half of my life, and, therefore, the most diverse administration in U.S history. As an eighth grader in New York City, I have grown up in an environment where almost 70% is composed of people of color, making this city amongst the ten most racially diverse in the world. Correspondingly, the world in my eyes is far more different than that represented in To Kill a Mockingbird. In over 80 years of American history (1930s-2017) we have faced immense racial and social progress; The Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed public segregation and employment discrimination and four laws have since been added to prevent discrimination. In the text, this improvement was not present. During the trial, white people sat on the first floor and black people sat on the balcony; Jem and Scout are brought to an all-colored church