Crisis Essay -- Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Essays

Crisis â€Å"Crisis!† Anytime we, as a society, hear this word our ears perk up and the speaker has our attention. Usually when we hear crisis we think that it is something with â€Å"the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome† (Merriam Webster) that calls for immediate response. President George W. Bush says that we are in a national â€Å"energy crisis† (Is Yucca Mountain in Nevada a safe disposal site?). Bush has proposed a solution, storing all of our nation’s nuclear waste in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, but has been met with much resistance from Nevada residents and politicians and environmental groups. The proposal is that Yucca Mountain will be a â€Å"permanent disposal facility† for two types of nuclear energy. Spent energy is from our nations 103 nuclear reactors. According to the article â€Å"Is Yucca Mountain in Nevada a safe disposal site?,† spent energy will comprise more than ninety percent of the waste at Yucca Mountain. This waste is fingertip sized enriched uranium pellets. One single pellet can produce as much energy as 149 gallons of oil, 1,780 pounds of coal or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas (Yucca Mountain). The second type of nuclear energy that would be stored in Yucca Mountain is high-level radioactive nuclear waste produced by the military when manufacturing nuclear weapons. The amount of this waste is fifty five million gallons. To be able to be buried in Yucca Mountain, this liquid must be changed into a solid form such as glass. Currently, nuclear waste is stored in concrete-lined above ground containers. Although these containers are secure from environmental elements, the containers are not designed for long-term storage. Steven P. Kraft, director of used-fuel management at the Nuclear Energy Institu... ...Cited Hansen, Brian. "Nuclear Waste." The CQ Researcher Online 11.22 (2001). 10 April 2005 <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2001060800>. Document ID: cqresrre2001060800. Crisis. Merriam-Webster Online. 11 Apr. 2005 <http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=crisis>. "Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management." Yucca Mountain Project. US Department of Energy. 10 Apr. 2005 <http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/ymp/index.shtml>. "St. Petersburg Times." Opinion: No to Yucca Mountain. 02 2002. 11 Apr. 2005 <http://www.sptimes.com/2002/05/02/Opinion/No_to_Yucca_Mountain.shtml>. The Revival of Nuclear Energy-Going Forward Together. 2005. 12 Apr. 2005 <http://www.ans.org/pubs/magazines/nn/docs/2005-1-3.pdf>. Transmutation. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. 11 Apr. 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmutation>.\ Crisis Essay -- Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Essays Crisis â€Å"Crisis!† Anytime we, as a society, hear this word our ears perk up and the speaker has our attention. Usually when we hear crisis we think that it is something with â€Å"the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome† (Merriam Webster) that calls for immediate response. President George W. Bush says that we are in a national â€Å"energy crisis† (Is Yucca Mountain in Nevada a safe disposal site?). Bush has proposed a solution, storing all of our nation’s nuclear waste in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, but has been met with much resistance from Nevada residents and politicians and environmental groups. The proposal is that Yucca Mountain will be a â€Å"permanent disposal facility† for two types of nuclear energy. Spent energy is from our nations 103 nuclear reactors. According to the article â€Å"Is Yucca Mountain in Nevada a safe disposal site?,† spent energy will comprise more than ninety percent of the waste at Yucca Mountain. This waste is fingertip sized enriched uranium pellets. One single pellet can produce as much energy as 149 gallons of oil, 1,780 pounds of coal or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas (Yucca Mountain). The second type of nuclear energy that would be stored in Yucca Mountain is high-level radioactive nuclear waste produced by the military when manufacturing nuclear weapons. The amount of this waste is fifty five million gallons. To be able to be buried in Yucca Mountain, this liquid must be changed into a solid form such as glass. Currently, nuclear waste is stored in concrete-lined above ground containers. Although these containers are secure from environmental elements, the containers are not designed for long-term storage. Steven P. Kraft, director of used-fuel management at the Nuclear Energy Institu... ...Cited Hansen, Brian. "Nuclear Waste." The CQ Researcher Online 11.22 (2001). 10 April 2005 <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2001060800>. Document ID: cqresrre2001060800. Crisis. Merriam-Webster Online. 11 Apr. 2005 <http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=crisis>. "Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management." Yucca Mountain Project. US Department of Energy. 10 Apr. 2005 <http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/ymp/index.shtml>. "St. Petersburg Times." Opinion: No to Yucca Mountain. 02 2002. 11 Apr. 2005 <http://www.sptimes.com/2002/05/02/Opinion/No_to_Yucca_Mountain.shtml>. The Revival of Nuclear Energy-Going Forward Together. 2005. 12 Apr. 2005 <http://www.ans.org/pubs/magazines/nn/docs/2005-1-3.pdf>. Transmutation. Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. 11 Apr. 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmutation>.\