June 2006
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New Yucca Mountain Center Opens
Despite political setbacks in the drive to see Yucca Mountain become a nuclear storage reality, the U.S. Department of Energy's principal contractor, Bechtel Science Applications International Corp., has moved ahead on the public relations front by opening a new 5,000-square-foot information center in Pahrump...Pahrump Valley Times, 7/28/06

Yucca Bill Stalls, at least for this Session
WASHINGTON -- Despite strong pressure from the nuclear energy industry and the Bush administration, Congress almost certainly will not put Yucca Mountain on a fast track this year...www.shns.com, 7/23/06

New Target Set for Receiving Waste at Yucca
WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department has set a new schedule for the long-delayed Yucca Mountain repository, projecting a March 2017 date to begin accepting high level nuclear waste at the Nevada site...Las Vegas Review Journal, 7/19/06

Geologist: Yucca Mountain Assessment Lacks Geological Input
RENO, Nev. (AP) - A geologist who spent a decade researching, compiling and editing a book of scientific analyses of the Yucca Mountain project said the Department of Energy's assessment lacks sufficient geological input and is fraught with uncertainty...www.lasvegassun.com, 7/7/06

June 2006

Hollis Says County Must Help Make Yucca Work
Nye County Commission Chairman Gary Hollis gave a pro-Yucca Mountain speech at a nuclear waste conference in Washington D.C. June 22, telling delegates that county officials will try to be part of the process of developing the repository...Pahrump Valley Times, 6/30/06

Reid Slashes Yucca Mountain Funding
Washington, D.C. "" U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) has once again sliced the budget for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump to a level far below what proponents had hoped for...Fallon Star Press, 6/30/06

Possible Compromise over Transportation of Nuclear Waste
The Walker River Paiute Tribe has agreed to allow the Department of Energy to consider a new rail route across its land for transportation of Yucca Mountain nuclear waste. At the same time, tribal leaders stress they will not approve the route unless all safety issues are studied in detail and a ban of waste transportation on US 95 is considered...www.krnv.com, 6/13/06

Waste Storage Dilemma Crimps Nuclear Future
In a quiet, air-conditioned room deep inside the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant sits a small pool filled with water colored an unnatural blue. It's packed with radioactive waste...www.sfgate.com, 6/11/06

Commissioners Turn Aside Bids for No-Bid Contract
Dale Hammermeister, who recently stepped down as director of the Nye County Nuclear Waste and Federal Facilities Office, was rebuffed by Nye County commissioners Tuesday when he requested a no-bid $95,000 consulting contract to continue overseeing the nuclear waste program...Pahrump Valley Times, 6/9/06

New US Investment in Nuclear Power is Risky - Study
Energy conservation and renewable energy such as wind power would be a better investment for US taxpayers than subsidies for new nuclear plants, according to a study released on Thursday by several environmental, health and public interest organizations...www.planetark.com, 6/9/06

Nevada's Stupidity, the World's Loss
After the passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act in December 1982, many living in central Nevada assumed, perhaps naively, that it would bring jobs to rural central Nevada. After all, both Yucca Mountain and the Nevada Test Site were located in Nye County. Over the previous 30 years, numerous rural residents had held good jobs at the Test Site. Yucca Mountain adjoined the Test Site and was to be a big-ticket item, so the expectation seemed reasonable...Pahrump Valley Times, 6/9/06

U.N./U.S./Western Shoshone: 'Divine Strake' Updates
"Word reached us Saturday morning that breaking news had been delivered as to the 'indefinite' postponement of the Divine Strake test and that protestors were 'celebrating'. This was misleading. Yes, while it could be considered a 'victory' that the test has been postponed, it by no means is a 'celebration'...www.unobserver.com, 6/8/06

People Demonstrating Power
This past week provided a good example of the power of humanity - what can be accomplished when human beings come together with a common purpose. Here in Salmon Arm, we saw the hundreds of people who participated in and supported the Relay for Life, a wonderful tribute to the strength of the human spirit...www.saobserver.net, 6/7/06

Carver Sees New RR Route As Positive
An announcement that U.S. Department of Energy officials will study a rail route from Hawthorne to Yucca Mountain to ship high level nuclear waste was greeted as good news by some Nye County officials...Pahrump Valley Times, 6/7/06

New Study Finds $50 Million in Trips Given to Lawmakers
Industry groups also are major sponsors of congressional trips. The Nuclear Energy Institute, the Washington lobbying arm of the nuclear power industry, has spent $1.1 million since 2000 taking lawmakers and staff on tours of nuclear plants in France, Spain, Japan and Nevada's Yucca Mountain, site of a proposed nuclear waste repository...www.sfgate.com, 6/6/06

'Divine Strake' Detonation Halted
Carrie Dann arrested at Nevada Test Site...The ''Divine Strake'' detonation has been halted, but Western Shoshone continued their protest at the Nevada Test Site over Memorial Day weekend to demand respect for Western Shoshone land rights at the site, as stated in the Treaty of Ruby Valley of 1863...Indian Country Today, 6/5/06

Protesters Rally Against Bomb Test in Desert
Experimenting with bombs at the Nevada Test Site is hypocritical of a government that speaks peace and can be likened to that of Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II, demonstrators said Saturday...www.rgj.com, 6/4/06

South Carolina's Delegation Must Make Washington Face Plutonium Problem
South Carolina's fears that it will become the semi-permanent plutonium dump for the nation are closer to coming true. The federal government has been sending surplus plutonium from weapons facilities and dismantled weapons to the Savannah River Site...GoUpstate.com, 6/4/06

Tribal Leaders Lead Protest Nevada Test Site's 'Divine Strake'
Tribal leaders were among about 50 protesters who rallied Saturday against an experiment at the Nevada Test Site they fear will produce a massive explosion that will spread radioactivity across the West...Las Vegas Sun, 6/3/06

Protesters Reflect on Civil Resistance at Nevada Test Site
When nearly 40 protesters crossed onto the Nevada Test Site during a Sunday demonstration against Divine Strake, James P. McMahon of Brookside was among those temporally detained and cited for trespassing on federal land...www.thespectrum.com, 6/1/06

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