Campaigns

The Don’t Waste America campaign shows the perils of the massive and unnecessary radioactive waste transportation that would occur across the U.S. if the moribund and scientifically-indefensible Yucca Mountain, Nevada waste dump were to be revived. Such large-scale transport would also occur if, as some in Congress advocate, a “centralized interim storage” site for high-level radioactive waste were created. In that case, the waste would either have to move twice (once to the interim site, and then to a permanent site), thus doubling the risks, or the “interim” site would become a de facto permanent waste dump–without going through the necessary scientific characterization.

The solution to the radioactive waste problem begins with ending its generation as quickly as possible. And we work non-stop to acheive that goal. But for the highly radioactive waste that exists and continues to be produced, putting it on trucks, train cars and barges and transporting it across the country to a scientifically-indefensible site solely for the benefit of the nuclear power industry is an unacceptable risk to our cities, our communities, our agricultural heartland, our entire nation.

Twenty years ago, the Stop Mobile Chernobyl Campaign was launched to defeat a similar Congressional effort to open Yucca Mountain and/or establish a “centralized interim storage” site and thus begin a national radioactive waste transportation program. That campaign ultimately led to a veto by President Bill Clinton of such legislation that was sustained in the Senate by one vote.