Advisory Board
Gary J Duarte
Director

Dr. Bruce P. Johnson (Ret)University of Nevada, Reno
Electrical Engineering Advisor

Dr. Bernard L. Cohen (Ret)University of Pittsburgh
Health Effects of Radiation
Author, “The Nuclear Energy Option”--Contributor

Peter G. Shaw
Idaho National Laboratory
Environmental Waste MGMT
Contributor

Dr. Barlane (Ike) Eichbaum
Materials Processing Engineer/
Environmental Scientist
Advisor

US Nuclear Energy Foundation
PO Box 2867 * Sparks, NV 89432
775 224-2089
For Immediate Release                                         Contact: Gary J. Duarte, Director

June 5, 2008                                                                                  775-224-2089          

 Yucca Mountain Submits License Application

 After two decades of scientific study and documentation, the Department of Energy has submitted its application for construction of Yucca Mountain as the nation’s nuclear waste repository.

“Despite 20 years of opposition to the site, Nevada’s elected officials have not been able to stop this important program that can safely store spent fuel from nuclear power plants,” says Gary Duarte, Director of the US Nuclear Energy Foundation, an educational organization that advocates for the safe storage of nuclear waste.

“Nevada can’t say that getting money from the Federal Government would imply that we consent to the program, since the Fed has provided over $400 million in funding to the State and impacted counties since 1983,” says Duarte.  “At one point Secretary of Energy John Herrington said that he felt Nevada could receive $200 million a year if they would demand it.  So just imagine if we had received $200 million for 20 years? I’m betting we wouldn’t have a budget deficit.”

Duarte says that technology in reprocessing has advanced to the point where it will be possible to reprocess the plutonium in the waste to power reactors, dramatically reducing the half-life of the plutonium and the amount of waste that would be stored at Yucca.

And the need for a final storage site is increasing as 10 new nuclear power applications have been submitted and another 50 are in the pipeline at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“With the concern of global warming, nuclear is becoming the favorite power source to meet growing energy needs, as it does not produce green house gases,” says Duarte.  “When the co-founder of Greenpeace, Patrick Moore, says that nuclear power is the power source that can save the planet, you know that there has been a paradigm shift.”

Every day that the state of Nevada opposes Yucca Mountain continues is another delay in Nevada’s opportunity to be home to a state-of-the art reprocessing facility that could not only power Nevada homes, but help keep Nevada’s budget  in the black.

There are so many reasons that Nevada should move to neutral and at least talk to the Federal Government about funding options, should Yucca be approved.  In addition to our www.usnuclearenergy.org  another new website, www.yuccafacts.com, has been created for Nevada citizens to provide accurate information about the Yucca Mountain site and technology.

“Nevada’s elected officials have backed themselves into a corner,” says Duarte.  “They are only costing us taxpayer dollars money if they continue this futile effort.  It’s time they realize that to ensue the site is safe, and that Nevadans will be protected; they need to be at the table.” 

The US Nuclear Energy foundation; “Our mission is to influence change in public opinion towards knowledgeable citizens about nuclear energy and waste repository issues”

Press Release:         US Nuclear Energy
From:                         Gary J. Duarte, Director
Date:                           June 20, 2007
Re:                              American Nuclear Society

 Gary J. Duarte, Directory of US Nuclear Energy has been invited to attend the American Nuclear Society annual convention. It will be held this year June 24 through the 28^th in Boston, MA. Last year’s convention was held in Reno and US Nuclear Energy sponsored a presentation by Dr. Alan Waltar on “Radiation and Modern Life” which was open to the Reno community in its motto of “Bringing Science to Citizens”.

 Duarte’s attendance will focus on current issues concerning the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository site and new developments in reactor designs that are amenable to desert climates. Several weeks ago US Nuclear Energy was contacted by General James L. Jones (ret) President & CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce “Institute For Energy” in Washington, DC. They hope to investigate ways to complement their efforts of public outreach of nuclear issues.

 In addition to its presentation programs US Nuclear Energy contacts political leaders and the media urging proactive review of the nuclear energy industry and waste repository management. US Nuclear is also currently contacting the nation’s Governors urging them to review the science studies on Yucca Mountain and urge the State of Nevada to reassess its position on the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository.

 Additional information can be found on our website at: www.usnuclearenergy.org and contacting:

Gary J. Duarte, Director
US Nuclear Energy
PO Box 2867
Sparks, NV 89432

 775 224-2089

Press Release:          US Nuclear Energy
From:                          Gary J. Duarte, Director
Date:                           December 20, 2006
Re:                              Yucca Mountain, our need for Star Trek Logic

1) Yucca Mountain Defined: For nearly two years, NV Nuclear Energy which grew into US Nuclear Energy is a group of ordinary people “Bringing Science to Citizens” through our website, various presentations, mailings, etc. Additional to this effort we have been supportive and an advocate for the development and construction of the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository project in Nevada. For the most part this project has been a thorn in the side of the US Department of Energy, the US nuclear industry and the American public. Primarily caused by Nevada politics, an ill informed media and misguided public opinion, all of which are seemingly unable to articulate an accurate foundational understanding of nuclear energy and nuclear waste management.  

2) The Science: In our limited attempt to try and overview the science behind nuclear power plants and the scientific study of the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository it is evident that very much science and engineering over decades has been applied to both these technologies. The bottom line is, the industry has proven that nuclear power is SAFE! And the MAJORITY of government and private company scientists AGREE that the development and construction of the Yucca Mountain Project is the BEST and safest method to STORE our current nuclear waste material. 

3) The Books: We have lightly reviewed several books including Uncertainty Underground, Yucca Mountain and the Nation’s High-Level Nuclear Waste, Macfarlane & Ewing, The Nuclear Energy Option, Dr. Bernard Cohen, Radiation and Modern Life, Dr. Alan E. Waltar.

4) The Logic: Where is Mr. Spock when you need him? Leonard Nimoy. Mr. Spock, the Doc of logic! Remember those days of Star Trek and the simple, blatant, “logic” of Mr. Spock . . . made since? I wish our politicians media and public could aspire to the Mr. Spock logic.

5) The Truth: In our American judicial system man is innocent until proven guilty! In the case of the Yucca Mountain science, it has been judged guilty of failure without “proving” that the science would fail! It is untruthful and illogical to judge failure unless the prosecution can “prove” beyond any “reasonable” doubt that the Yucca Mountain design will FAIL! No other scientific entity on our planet has ever had to prove 10,000 or 100,000 years of sustainable stability for its construction . . . medicine, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, etc.

6) The Challenge: Our strongest and most logical contention is that the “majority” of government and private companies participating in the scientific study of Yucca Mountain “concluded” that its design and proposed construction is safe and should be built. We would challenge any scientific entity to come forward and “prove beyond any reasonable doubt” that the Yucca Mountain design and construction would “FAIL”.

In April of 2006 US Nuclear Energy wrote a letter to Samuel Bodman, Secretary of the Department of Energy. Based on our limited ability to research and evaluate the general information about Yucca Mountain we asked if the DOE could provide an analysis based on the “majority” of the scientists, engineers and their overall conclusions to its directive as the best, safest and most logical location for a national nuclear repository. The best way for us to provide their response is to include it below.

11/07/06
Thank you for your e-mail of September 4, 2006, to Secretary of Energy Bodman regarding the Yucca Mountain Project and your “Bringing Science to Citizens” efforts. Secretary Bodman forwarded your letter to the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management for a response.

In your letter you asked for statistical information showing that the majority of scientists who have studied the Yucca Mountain data agree that it is the best location for a repository. Although we do not have the sort of statistical breakdown you requested, to date the preponderance of scientists in the relevant disciplines who have studied the Yucca Mountain data and analysis do seem to agree that Yucca Mountain is an excellent site for a repository for a number of reasons.

As you may know, at the request of the former Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), in the mid-1950s the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) considered the disposal of high-level radioactive waste and recommended geologic disposal as the best alternative. The NAS especially recommended salt formations as a potentially suitable type of host rock for geologic disposal. At the recommendation of the NAS, the AEC then commissioned the U.S. Geological Survey to prepare a detailed report on the salt deposits in the United States. As recently as 2001, the NAS renewed its strong recommendation for geologic disposal in a report entitled Disposition of High-Level Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges (http://newton.nap.edu/catalog/10119.html#toc)

In 1976, the Energy Research and Development Agency, which was a descendant agency from the AEC and later became the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), expanded the geologic disposal evaluation program to study different types of host rocks for a potential repository. In the 1970s, Dr. Isaac J. Winograd, a prominent scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), recommended disposing of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the thick, unsaturated zones of the arid regions of the southwestern United States. Dr. Winograd’s letter pointed out that unsaturated rock had the advantage that “the amount of water reaching the repository will be very small” and that a repository can be designed for such rock that will allow water to pass through the repository into the permeable rocks below with minimal contact with the canisters of waste.  

In 1976, another USGS scientist pointed out that the Nevada Test Site, which offered a variety of geologic media, had been heavily studied since the late 1950s and that even then, in the late 1970s, scientists had already compiled “a wealth of hydrological, geological, and geophysical data and information which, in many respects, is unequaled anywhere else in the United States.”

Later, USGS scientists specifically recommended Yucca Mountain for study for several reasons: Southern Nevada is characterized by closed hydrologic basins, meaning the groundwater does not discharge into rivers that flow into major bodies of surface water. There are very long flow paths between the proposed repository location and any actual groundwater discharge point. The rocks at Yucca Mountain have geochemical characteristics favorable for waste isolation. The arid climate provides little water to infiltrate the mountain and come in contact with the planned double-shelled waste packages.

After the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 became law, DOE identified nine sites, of differing rock types, as deserving further study. In 1986 DOE nominated five of those nine as worth in-depth study and recommended to President Reagan three of the five as the most promising. The three, each in a different type of rock formation, were at Deaf Smith County, Texas (bedded salt formation); Hanford, Washington (basalt); and Yucca Mountain, Nevada (layered volcanic tuff).

In 1987, Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act, which directed DOE to study only Yucca Mountain. By that point, scientists had already collected an enormous amount of information about Yucca Mountain from field and laboratory studies. In most comparisons among the sites under study, Yucca Mountain ranked the highest even then. Yucca Mountain has many positive attributes that would contribute to safe geologic disposal, including the site’s remoteness, arid climate, multiple natural barriers, deep depth to water table, and a geologically- isolated hydrologic basin. The aquifer, some 2,000 feet beneath the surface of the mountain, does not move far or fast, does not connect to another aquifer, and does not discharge into any river or stream that feeds any lake or ocean.

It is also notable that over the decades, studies of geologic disposal and Yucca Mountain in particular have involved both government and non-government scientists. Work by the NAS, AEC, DOE, the national laboratories, and USGS have been supplemented by research performed by universities and private non-profit research and development organizations, such as the Electric Power Research Institute. The scientific studies of Yucca Mountain have also been peer-reviewed by independent international scientific bodies, such as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

If you have additional questions regarding the Yucca Mountain Project, please visit our website at www.ocrwm.doe.gov or call our toll-free information line at 1-800-225-6972.

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The position of US Nuclear Energy is that this document summarizes 20 plus years of study, events and planning of the Yucca Mountain Nevada nuclear repository site as BEST site in the United States. As of 2006 any further opposition to kill, delay, postpone this project needed by the US nuclear industry and the American people should be considered a travesty of justice. The State of Nevada and Nevada’s representatives to the US Congress and Senate should be held accountable to bring this long belabored debate and the truth of its science to a logical understanding for the citizens of Nevada and our American sister states.

Gary J. Duarte, Director

US Nuclear Energy