Latest news More stories Photos Back to the Las Vegas Sun   Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste repository 4.4 earthquake hits near Yucca A look at Yucca Mountain A special 16-page report on Yucca Mountain and the nuclear waste threat to Nevada by IN BUSINESS Las Vegas. FREE HOTSHEETS E-MAIL SERVICES LITTLE SKULL MOUNTAIN EARTHQUAKE 14 June 2002 By Benjamin Grove [email protected] and Mary Manning [email protected] LAS VEGAS SUN A magnitude 4.4 earthquake this morning outside the Amargosa Valley rattled the fears of Yucca Mountain opponents, who argue that the site of the nation's proposed nuclear waste repository is unsafe. The earthquake hit about 5:40 this morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, in an area about 75 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Seismologists said the temblor hit Little Skull Mountain on the Nevada Test Site, about 12 1/2 miles southeast of Yucca Mountain. "All we need now is a volcano to erupt," deadpanned Bob Loux, director of the state Agency for Nuclear Projects. Yucca Mountain, an ancient volcanic ridge about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, sits on the edge of the Nevada Test Site and has been studied as the nation's future nuclear repository. The Senate is expected to vote on approving the site in the next few weeks. Minor earthquakes that go unnoticed are common in the sparsely populated area. Nevada officials, in their long battle to kill Yucca Mountain in Congress and the courts, have argued that over time, the site is susceptible to larger earthquakes, groundwater leaks, even volcanoes. "Mother Nature is telling the people of the United States something," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. "What she is telling them is don't mess with Yucca Mountain." The Energy Department, President Bush and the U.S. House have approved Yucca as a suitable site to permanently bury 77,000 tons of the nation's high-level nuclear waste. If the Senate approves Yucca Mountain, the Energy Department would then have to apply to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to operate a repository. Energy Department spokesman Allen Benson today released a statement that said there was no damage at all to the Yucca site. He stressed that the earthquake was not at Yucca, but said it was 15 miles away in an area known for seismic activity. The statement said a normally scheduled tour of Yucca would go on as planned Saturday. Energy Department scientists and engineers at Yucca have studied earthquake risks for years, officials said. "Yucca Mountain respository designs could withstand a local earthquake with 1,000 times more energy than the one reported this morning and a regional earthquake with 30,000 times more energy than the one reported this morning," the statement said. "If felt, the vibrations of an earthquake like the one reported this morning are similar to those felt when a truck passes." Nuclear industry officials also stress that waste storage containers are robust enough to survive significant damage without releasing radiation. "There's no story here," DOE spokesman Joe Davis said. "This is a dog bites mailman story." This morning's temblor, centered about 7 miles beneath the surface, was followed by three smaller quakes, with the largest recorded as a magnitude 1.4. The quake was on the same fault that produced a magnitude 5.6 temblor on June 29, 1992, University of Nevada, Reno seismologist Diane de Polo said. The 1992 quake caused more than $400,000 in damage to Energy Department surface research facilities near Yucca Mountain, but did not impact the site itself, officials said. "Yucca Mountain is in a young, geologically active area, and it's probably going to be difficult to get licensed as a nuclear repository," Loux said. A series of minor quakes shook the desert northwest of Las Vegas in January 1999, with the biggest a 4.7 quake in the Frenchman Flat area in the Nevada Test Site east of Yucca Mountain. In March 1994, a 3.9 quake hit Rock Valley near the Test Site and Yucca Mountain. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said the congressional delegation has tried to argue the potential threats of earthquakes and other dangers at Yucca Mountain. "We have presented all that to the senators, but it's like anything else, they just say, 'Oh, the DOE says it's safe,' " Ensign said. "We have known that there are a lot of earthquakes in the area, mostly minor," Ensign said. "But as we have learned over time, you never know when the next major earthquake will hit the area." Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., this week said the arrest of a "dirty bomb" suspect was a timely reminder that the Yucca plan is risky. "Today we saw more proof that the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump site is not safe," Reid said in a written statement. "(The earthquake) was centered just 15 miles from the place where the Department of Energy wants to put tons of the deadliest material ever known to man." While the quake rumbled up north, there were no reports of it in the Las Vegas Valley. Metro Police did not receive any calls this morning from anyone reporting feeling the temblors, said Lt. Vincent Cannito, a department spokesman. But Amargosa Valley ranchers Debbie and Ralph McCracken felt it. "It scared the bejesus out of me and my cat," Debbie McCracken said. "It woke me up." Her husband described it as a "nice, gentle rolling motion." Sun reporters Erin Neff and Keith Paul <[email protected]> contributed to this report. Nevada mayors to lobby against Yucca at conference By Diana Sahagun <[email protected]> LAS VEGAS SUN June 13, 2002 Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman will join Reno's mayor in Madison, Wis., at the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors to help lobby for a resolution urging the Senate to postpone a decision on Yucca Mountain. The resolution, sponsored by Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin and Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, is scheduled to be heard by a 14-member committee of mayors this weekend. Goodman plans to help Griffin and Anderson lobby the committee members to approve the resolution, then forward it to approximately 200 U.S. mayors at the conference for a final vote on Monday. "I'll try to show them that they're going to be affected and get their votes in the committee," said Goodman, who has also written a letter to the mayors of more than 200 U.S. cities urging them to approve the resolution. Approval by the mayors is critical to Nevada's fight, Goodman said, with only days or weeks left before the Senate is expected to vote on the proposed nuclear waste repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The resolution asks the Senate to postpone plans for the site because the Department of Energy "has no feasible plan for transportation of these materials to the Yucca Mountain repository ..." The resolution also alleges that during the course of transporting high-level waste to Yucca Mountain, a single terrorist attack could result in thousands of cancer deaths and cost up to $17 billion in cleanup costs. The resolution is the latest tactic to increase pressure on key officials to side with Nevada. This week a new website was unveiled that allows users to track how close nuclear waste could travel to their homes if the repository is approved. Goodman last month traveled to Salt Lake City for a massive media campaign to increase awareness of the dangers of transporting nuclear waste across the country. Griffin, who is active in the mayors conference as a board member and a committee chairman, said he is confident the resolution will be forwarded to to the mayors for a final vote. While the state has its own legal fight, much can be accomplished by lobbying mayors, who then put pressure on their leaders, Griffin said. "I think it's a lot more effective to have the mayors of America on your side complaining to your state legislature and congressional delegation to say wait a second, don't vote for this," Griffin said. Griffin plans to cite last summer's accident in Baltimore -- in which a train hauling toxic material derailed in a tunnel -- as cause for a delay by the Senate. The accident led to a fire that shut down a portion of the city for more than a week. "What if it were high-level nuclear waste?" Griffin said. "That's really the point I'm going to make." Problems or questions Read our policy on privacy and cookies. Advertise on Vegas.com. All contents © 1996 - 2002 Las Vegas Sun, Inc. Nevada's Largest Website

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