For all the minorities in this country who have raised pluperfect hell about their past or current situations, the American Indian has been the quietist, and I wonder why.

Before you write me nasty emails, I’m not minimizing the concerns of minorities in this country: they have their issues and the right to use their voices, and that’s good.

But think for a moment about the original settlers of this land, the American Indian.

They did just fine for centuries, sustaining their cultures with the fruits of the land, picking fights and having wars, just like we all do.

Then, came the white man (no emails please, because that’s what happened), who invaded the natives’ birthright, confiscated their tribal lands, transferred them to reservations and literally forgot about them. Many of those Native Americans to this very day are without electricity and running water, in some cases, living in dirt poor conditions, and they languish without raising their voices.

How incredibly sad.

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In our previous podcasts, Yucca Mountain: The Nevada Case Podcast, Part One, Mr. Loux talked about his agency, it’s mission and why the state is so critical of the DOE and it’s practices.

In the second presentation, Yucca Mountain: The Nevada Cast Podcast, Part Two, he talks about the regulatory process and unsuitability of the mountain as a long-term repository for high-level nuclear waste.

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This is the second part of a podcast with Robert Loux, Executive Director of the Agency for Nuclear Projects in Nevada.

If you missed the first installment, it’s available at: Yucca Mountain: The Nevada Case Podcast, Part One .

In this segment, Loux discusses the Department of Energy’s regulatory process, falsehoods and other manipulation of reports. He also talks about Yucca Mountains unsuitability, even for a short term, as a nuclear repository. Loux mentions how air and water pass freely through the mountain, the earthquake faults beneath the storage area, and even the possible threat of young volcanoes in the future.

Our third portion will address transportation issues, and the faltering support for the project both in the government and in scientific circles. DOE officials recently annouced layoffs at the facility, citing budget cuts by Congress.

Now, here’s Bob Loux, stating again, how Nevada became the “poster child” for long-term nuclear waste disposal.

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Here is a link to the State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects.

Here is a link to the Government Accounting Office, dealing with information on the DOE and it’s handling of nuclear issues.

The answer to the waste situation was supposed to have been Yucca Mountain, a remote natural structure some 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Since it’s inception nearly 25 years ago, Nevadans have fought creation of a long-term storage facility in their back yard.

I wanted to know more about Nevada’s opposition to the Yucca Mountain project, so I picked up the phone and talked with Robert Loux, Executive Director of the Agency for Nuclear Projects in Nevada. He’s been going head-to-head with the DOE and other agencies for a long time, and has some interesting things to say about the project and the DOE.

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The State of Nevada has opposed the Yucca Mountain project since it’s inception, and now, years overdue and billions of taxpayers dollars later, it’s still at least 10 years away from completion.

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Ward Sproat, shown in the Las Vegas Review-Journal photo at the left, is director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, and announced Tuesday that Yucca Mountain in Nevada is still a long way from receiving any spent nuclear fuel. Sproat told Nevada’s Legislative Committee on High-Level Nuclear Waste, that lack of funding will result in significant worker layoffs at the facility. He is quoted as saying, “They’re going to come in waves”.

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I decided to dedicate my first official Planetsave podcast to the nuclear industry and the threats to our safety that come with it. Several links are mentioned in the podcast, and they are listed below.

Before we start, let me call your attention to some photos taken by the Department of Energy. They show open air storage vessels containing high-level radioactive material.

The image above is one of the three cylinder storage yards in America. You will find more pictures of rusted, leaking and patched cylinders in the Department of Energy link.

So, let’s continue…

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The links I mentioned are below.

Department of Energy
The Tennessean
Sierra Club
Sierra Club Marilyn Berlin Snell