[Kate Adams]

Dear Powderworkers in the United States:

Senator Hastert has fast-tracked the Yucca Mountain authorization, with the 
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee vote scheduled for June 
5!  If this measure clears committee, it will head to the Senate floor in 
July.

Read About It at 
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/May-16-Thu-2002/news/18760903.html , 
http://www.lasvegassun.com/dossier/nuke/.   Opponents are currently several 
votes short of stopping the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository bill, which 
President Bush has vowed to sign.

If your senator is on this committee, your timely input by phone is 
particularly important!  Check here to see: 
http://energy.senate.gov/about/jurisdiction&members.htm#members

If you care that high-level radioactive waste may soon hit a road or 
railway near you, if you can envision what it is like to see such shipments 
head through your community and realize the hazards, please call or fax 
your Senators now.  Here is a directory of Senate information by state 
http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm I have listed a bunch 
of sample letters at the bottom of this post.

If you are using the phone, here are some of the key points for your 
reference (and feel free to add some ...):

-Yucca Mountain is not geologically stable, and sits above a key water 
source for one of America's fastest growing regions
-Transport of this much waste is dangerous, given the probability of accidents
-Waste cannot be securely transported without extreme expense and disruption
-Waste shipments are vulnerable to terrorist attacks and seizures
-Yucca Mountain lacks adequate capacity as a repository
-The best long-term solution is to stop generating the waste altogether!

If your senator is firmly anti-Yucca Mountain, please urge him or her to 
take a leadership role in defeating the measure.  The Senators from Nevada 
need some help!

You need not be a US citizen to contact a Senator.  If you came to the US 
from a uranium producing country, realize that an expansion of the nuclear 
industry in the US will affect the market for uranium worldwide ... which 
could lead to expanded mining outside the US as well.

Yucca Mountain is a political resurrection vehicle for the nuclear industry 
and is not a suitable repository for long-term waste storage.  Even if it 
were, it would be at or near capacity by the time it opened.  There are 
very few (if any) places in this world which will remain geologically 
stable for the necessary hundreds of thousands of years.  The only truly 
viable long-term solution to nuclear waste is to stop producing it altogether.

And take it from someone who has seen many nuclear shipments from the 
banana seat of her bike as a kid: massive transport of nuclear waste in 
nearly every US state is a major hazard to us all.  Even if "perfect" and 
"accident-proof" containers could be designed (the engineer in me doubts 
the existence of foolproof), there are serious and severe security risks 
involved with so many trucks and trains hitting the road with very hot 
cargo.  Truck drivers are required by law to take breaks, and have to eat 
and use the restroom just like the rest of us.    Trains have to obey 
signals and are vulnerable to track sabotage (remember that crash in the 
Southwest not too long ago?) and obstacles placed onto the 
tracks.  Necessary stops make shipments by train and road vulnerable to 
terrorist seizure or attack ... and the consequences would be truly 
difficult to contain.  Creating widespread opportunities for mayhem is no 
way to fight terrorism!

Please phone or fax your senators as soon as possible ... what you have to 
say could make a difference!  Think about the main routes in your home 
town, the tough intersections and fast-moving highways. Visualize the sight 
of flatbed trucks with casks of high-level wastes strapped to them making 
their way through your territory, think about how that makes you feel, and 
put unease into action.  Some sample letters/faxes can be found at 
http://www.nirs.org/DearSenatorYucca.html, 
http://www.wand.org/getfacts/index/ym-senate.html, 
http://www.earthsystems.org/list/cmep/0008.html, 
http://www.foe.org/act/takeaction/yucca.html

Many Thanks,
Kate

"To the village square we must carry the facts of atomic energy
...From there must come America's voice." -- Albert Einstein