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Tuesday, September 2, 2003

If everything goes as planned, the federal government will begin storing thousands of tons of nuclear waste deep inside Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

To members of the Western Shoshone Nation, the repository defiles a sacred site that once belonged to the tribe, whose members are spread across Nevada, California, Idaho and Utah. They cite the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, which set aside 23 million acres of land including Yucca Mountain.

The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe and the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe have asked to be designated as tribes affected by the repository. But they have been waiting for more than a year from the Department of Interior for an answer. The tribes say they asked Interior, instead of the Department of Energy, because Yucca Mountain is not located on a reservation.

Yucca Mountain is designed to accept up to 77,000 tons of waste. The facility isn't set to open for several more years.

Get the Story:
NUCLEAR WASTE REPOSITORY: Yucca Mountain already having effect on tribes (The Las Vegas Review-Journal 9/2)

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