The 5,000 Shoshone Indians living in Nevada should support Yucca Mountain as the repository for nuclear waste. They should seek some sort of equity in the project. The main reason they should support Yucca Mountain is to do their part to support nuclear power as an emission free source of electricity, and thus a big solution to global warming. A secondary reason would be to participate in the business of electricity production. Unfortunately, the Shoshone have lost every battle-- military, legal, cultural--related to their western lands. Yucca could provide a victory that would provide economic benefits and mitigate negative climate change.AAEA believes the Department of Energy is moving too slowly in developing Yucca Mountain. The new estimate for opening the repository is 2017. As such we have been calling for removing nuclear waste management from DOE and placing it in a Nuclear Waste Management Agency. Ultimately, we would hope that it could be completely privatized the way USEC morphed into a private operation for uranium enrichment. Part of any such privatization should include significatnt Shoshone ownership options. Morever, we also believe that Yucca Mountain is an excellent location for centralized reprocessing of spent fuel. The Shoshone should also have ownership in any reprocessing facility that might be operated at Yucca. (Map: Western Shoshone Land Claim, Wash Times)
No comments:
Post a Comment