October 17, 2007

* Sandia memo puts Yucca Mountain schedule ahead of defensibility and credibility; Nevada cites same in petitioning NRC to bar Sandia from further Yucca work

* [2006-03-31] Pentagon plans record-breaking explosion in Nevada desert
Julian Borger in Washington, The Guardian

* [2006-03-31] Plans for Massive Blast in Nev. Draw Fire
Kathleen Hennessey, Guardian

* [2006-03-30] Pentagon plans gigantic explosion at Nevada site
Will Dunham, Reuters

December 14, 2004

* Editorial: EPA soon to take charge
Las Vegas SUN
A contaminated site (former Anaconda copper mine) near Yerington, Nevada.

* Hospital sets up decontamination unit; MEDecon 3L trailer at Sunrise ready for operations
Paul Harasim, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Sunrise is the first U.S. hospital not connected with the Veterans Administration to receive such a decontamination trailer. The $40,000 cost of the mobile unit is covered by a federal grant for homeland security. Seven other hospitals in the Las Vegas Valley will receive units in the coming months, according to Lake. The decontamination units work like this: Three people can enter the trailer at once. They are met by emergency responders who look like someone wearing a spacesuit. The responders give the patient a package that contains bags for clothing and valuables as well a poncho-gown and footies to wear. The decontamination process is an assembly line operation, where patients disrobe, step into the shower area, and then put on clean clothes. Because each section is compartmentalized, up to nine people (or more if people are with small children) can e going through the trailer at once. As many as 75 people could go through in an hour, depending on how mobile they are, according to Robert Denser, who works for Global Protection, distributor of decontamination products.

November 3, 2004

* Nevada to Bush, despite Yucca Mountain

October 22, 2004

Bush taking lead in Nevada, despite not mentioning Yucca Mountain

Nevada is a battleground in the presidential race, generating unprecedented attention by both campaigns. Kerry and his running-mate U.S. Sen. John Edwards have been to Nevada six times and their wives have made another three visits. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have visited the state 13 times.
Throughout the campaign Bush and Kerry have been neck-and-neck in Nevada polls. Recent surveys, however, give Bush the edge. A Las Vegas Review-Journal poll released Thursday showed Bush with a 10-point lead, although both campaigns said the race is closer than that. Other polls conducted this week put BushÕs lead at between 1 and 7 points Ñ putting the race within the margin of error.
In his two Reno speeches, President Bush has not mentioned Yucca Mountain...
Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said President Bush will prevail in Nevada. "At the end of the day, when people look at the economy in Nevada, where the unemployment rate is down to 4 percent, they are not going to want somebody who is going to raise taxes and reverse that."

[Source: Anjeanette Damon, "Democratic chairman says party has made inroads into GOP territory", Reno Gazette-Journal, October 21, 2004 11:45 pm]

March 13, 2004

Nevada - NGO decries namecalling by state senate radwaste task force chair

At a public meeting in Tooele about radioactive waste, Nevada state legislator Sen. Curtis S. Bramble, R-Provo, disparaged the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah. Bramble told the meeting in Tooele that HEAL stood for "Help Educate Anal Liberals." Bramble is the senate chair of the radioactive waste task force and was Utah County co-chairman of the Envirocare-funded effort to stop an initiative that would have regulated radioactive waste. HEAL now wants Bramble to step down as task force chairman.

[Source: The Daily Herald (Provo, Utah), "Beehives & Buffalo Chips", March 13, 2004, p. A6

March 12, 2004

* Yucca Mountain may swing Nevada into a Kerry state this election

* Yucca Mountain court ruling expected perhaps next month; DOE mum about "what ifs" related to possibility that court will force changes

* Yucca Mountain - DOE is not nearly ready to submit an application; but the fantasyland atmosphere may prompt them to do just that

* Yucca Mountain - Nevada's goal is, not NIMBY, but compliance with the law and reliance on sound science

March 5, 2004

* Nevada - gauge stolen from pickup - 55 Mci (Reno)

January 9, 2004

* Yucca Mountain - Nye County looking to make lemonade out of this lemon; New rail lines could be economic boon

December 5, 2003

* Nevada - 137 mCi density gauge stolen from trailer in Henderson NV on Nov 17, anonymously turned in 9 days later

August 13, 2003

Nevada continues use of Egan, Fitzpatrick & Malsch firm in Yucca lawsuits

The State of Nevada, continuing a deal in place since September 2001, has authorized the law firm of Egan, Fitzpatrick & Malsch, of McLean, Virginia, to bill up to $4-million, at billing rate of up to $450/attorney-hr, for work over the next year in the state's legal battle against Yucca Mountain Project. The chairman of the firm, Joseph Egan is a nuclear engineer with degree from MIT Although $3-million of the funding has been appropriated by the state legislature, there are some federal funds in the total, too. The federal money will be spent on scientific research, according to Bob Loux, executive director of the state's Nuclear Waste Project Office.

[Ref: Sean Whaley (Review-Journal Capital Bureau), "Virginia law firm to represent state in fight over Yucca; Contract that pays up to $4 million during the next year to try to stop waste dump OK'd", Las Vegas Review-Journal, August 13, 2003]

Utah hires Nevada's Yucca Mountain law firm to help look at Skull Valley aircraft crash issue

The State of Utah has hired the law firm Egan, Fitzpatrick and Malsch, of McLean, Virginia, to help evaluate the consequences of an airplane crash into a spent fuel storage cask or a proposed spent fuel storage facility at Skull Valley. The State of Nevada is delighted that the firm, which expects to do some $4-million in Yucca Mountain-related work this year, will be gaining expertise on this subject while being paid by somebody else. Bob Loux, director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects, believes that this aircraft crash issue may eventually be front and center in the Yucca battle, just as it is currently seen as potential show-stopper at Skull Valley. The law firm's contract with Nevada restricts the law firm from working for DOE or its contractors. No such restriction applied to taking the Utah job, but the firm asked Nevada beforehand, anyway.

[Source: Steve Tetreault (Stephens Washington Bureau), "Firm fighting Yucca adds Utah as client; State opposes Goshute spent fuel complex", Las Vegas Review-Journal, August 13, 2003]

May 10, 2003 - Bechtel Jacobs Co. LLC has voluntarily suspended waste shipments from the Paducah site in Kentucky until investigation and corrective action, after two tractor-trailers were found to be slightly more contaminated than DOT regulations allow. The contamination was found on both flatbeds after waste shipments were unloaded at Nevada Test Site. Bechtel spokesperson told Nevada newspaper that source was considered most likely to be some funnel-shaped, 5-foot, hoppers. The hoppers had been decontaminated and an adhesive spray intended to prevent leaching of contamination had been applied to the hoppers before shipment. [Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Radioactive Residue: Inspectors find taint on trucks", May 10, 2003]