Nuclear Waste Essay, Research Paper

Although the government believes that Nevada is an ideal place for nuclear waste

storage, it is simply overlooking the obvious implications that would threaten

both the environment and the people of the land. Yucca was suggested to be a

waste repository along with several other areas some years ago. This facility

located at Yucca Mountain would house some of mans most dangerous elements, like

plutonium. As with the Native Americans political power played a key role in the

theft of their land. Nevada, having the least amount of political power has been

exposed to the same issue Native American’s faced years and years ago. There was

said to be a handful of proposed nuclear waste sites that were supposed to be

individually examined for pros and cons, but after a laconic effort to examine

each site some how all proposed sites were decided to be dropped from the list

of potential nuclear waste sites except for Nevada’s Yucca Mountain. It is also

important to point out that the only two potential sites for nuclear waste are

on or near Indian lands. These facts show an unjust system of decision made by

the Department of Energy. The Yucca Mountain region is one of the least

populated regions of the United States and without strong political efforts made

it will eventually become a permanent nuclear waste village that all Nevada’s

population will have to deal with and quite very possible be harmed by. One of

the most prominent problems with nuclear waste is the lethal factor it poses to

mankind. "To properly understand the scope of the problem it is necessary

to take into account the detrimental health effects of these materials" (Kuletz

84). The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that as little as 10 millionths of

a curie of plutonium if inhaled can cause cancer in an average human being. But

even with these alarming statistics, officials are still willing to take the

health risks of storing the waste in a permanent storage facility at Yucca

Mountain that in the long run could result in millions of citizens being

diagnosed with cancer. If they do end up storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain

in the end, the only victims will be the citizens of the United States. Even

with conclusive studies that are deemed un-conclusive by high paid scientists,

the government insists on killing it’s own people with mass production of

nuclear waste pouring out nuclear plants everyday. Studies reveal these elements

kill, yet the DOE or Department of Energy changes science to fit into their

master plan. In the grants Uranium Belt region, a major source of uranium

mining, over a hundred cases were reported of cancer and birth defects that

directly relate to the nuclear materials such as uranium. Not only is nuclear

substance extremely lethal to mankind, but the area of Yucca Mountain is said to

have a incredible aquifer beneath it’s desolated surface. If the nuclear waste

were to ever make its way into the vast water channels located within the

aquifer there would be complete devastation. At some specific spots on the

nuclear landscape underground streams emerge from below and reveal the extensive

underground water source in the Yucca Mountain are. It is noted in Kuletz’s book

on the numerous interviews she had with Native Americans in the Yucca Mountain

region that a lot of them complained from thyroid cancer. Also many deaths have

occurred in their families that they accredit to the tests and nuclear waste.

One must not only examine the effects that nuclear waste has Nevada’s water

supply, but the adverse health effects when nuclear waste enters into our

ecosystem and indirectly into our food chain. As Kuletz points out,

"Scientists don’t really know how the water will flow through this

environment thousands of years from now, how gases will move through it along

pneumatic pathways, and most importantly how stable the earth will be (Kuletz

278)." With the notion of a deep geological permanent waste storage

facility it is difficult not to imagine the effects seismic activity could have

on a such a (death barrel) located deep in the ground. In a world were

weathermen have difficulty predicting what the weather will be like tomorrow it

is difficult to comprehend waste will be deep in our mantle that is constantly

changing and shifting as with the government always changing and neither of the

two being static. As an earthquake occurs the epicenter feels the least amount

of shock wave from the origin of creation. Which means that any deep geological

facility would have more traumas to it then effects felt on the earth’s surface

by us. Not only could such a problem pose incredible health hazards to nearby

citizens, but the accident of an earthquake shattering or cracking the liner of

a nuclear waste facility could quite possible kill millions of Americans. When

dealing with an element that keeps the reputation of toxicity for 240,000 years

I only feel one must understand that such a wide scale accident could cause an

epidemic problem. But of course the DOE ignores the problem, maybe they know

something we don’t. If the rate of nuclear waste continues to rise Yucca

Mountain will be only the first of many lands claimed a wasteland and deemed to

become a waste repository. Although Yucca Mountain would receive shipments of

waste from states all around the country it is only fair to point out the danger

of low and high level nuclear waste being transported through our state could be

a killer. If large drums of nuclear waste were continuously being carted into

Nevada I feel that any city in our state would not be safe to reside in if at

any time an accident was to occur with a vehicle transporting nuclear waste to

Yucca Mountain. If a plethora of states across the nation are producing this

nuclear waste I feel it isn’t fair to put us Nevadans in jeopardy from their

waste. Maybe all states should have their own storage facility for nuclear waste

storage and deal with the health hazards themselves. I myself would entertain

the thought of moving from the state knowing that the nuclear waste could be

riding right next to me on the highway making it’s way to Yucca Mountain. I’ve

asked myself what the answer is to this entire "nuclear waste dilemma"

and I still find it hard to decide what exactly should be done. Maybe research

dollars should be spent on devising a system to launch this deadly substance

into space and therefore maybe targeting the sun. If nuclear waste could be

launched from earth into the sun, I feel that would be the end of some of the

problems. But beyond all of the theory’s on what we should do or contrive in

order to rid our planet of these horrible substances, there should be more

effort put into who is actually causing the most harm. Let’s start pointing

fingers and have names to speak of instead of saying "they" or

"DOE". I mean all thought discussions with various people on the topic

everyone is referred to as they. "You know they say it won’t cause any

harm", who’s they? How about names so we can start working on letting our

voices be heard to the right people that are going to make the most critical

decisions to mankind. I propose that if nuclear waste continues to increase at

the estimated rate of 2,130 tons of plutonium in our air supply by the year 2005

(Kuletz 86) our planet will eventually become an entire nuclear melting pot. No

one on this earth can escape it and things need to be changed. If Nevada isn’t

the best site for nuclear waste storage then were is? Or maybe, there is no best

place; nuclear waste doesn’t and shouldn’t belong on our planet.

36a

Kuletz, Valerie L. The Tainted Desert. New York: Routledge, 1998.