Friday, June 14th - State Capitol - 1 P.M.

Welcome the Yucca Mountain Wagon Train

(Simulated casks for hauling the radioactive wastes traveling across many
states)

In Des Moines for a press conference and rally to STOP Yucca Mt.
(Contact Jane Clark at [log in to unmask] for information.)

Come!  Represent a group!  Call Iowa Senators Today!

The U.S. Senate will vote in June.  Contact Iowa Senators to vote NO on
hauling this waste - your last chance to STOP IT!
Sen. Grassley, 515/284-4890 or [log in to unmask]
Sen. Harkin, 515/284-4574 or [log in to unmask]

DO YOU CARE ABOUT 1000'S OF LOADS OF HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE moving
across IOWA?   Rep. Ganske does NOT!  In May, 2002 he voted to send it.
Sen. Grassley has committed his Senate vote to send it.  How will Sen.
Harkin vote in a June 2002 Senate vote?   Harkin is listed as UNDECIDED
(5/28/02) and staff people at Sen. Harkin's office say very little mail is
coming in on this issue.

The destination would be Yucca Mountain in Nevada on Native American land.
Loads could pass through every 12 hours over the next 30 years and could
affect the safety of communities near the routes.  (In Iowa, more than 567
towns are within 12 miles of the proposed routes! - Hwys. 29, 35 and 80 and
the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Railroads.  The U-P line was
determined the most accident-prone railroad in the U.S. in 1998)
>
Iowa alone will see at least 40,539 truck shipments of nuclear waste, which
will likely pass near major population centers like Des Moines, Cedar
Rapids/Iowa City, Davenport, Ames, etc.  Iowa will also see 3,301 rail
shipments.  (In Iowa, more than 567 towns are within 12 miles of the
proposed routes! - Interstate Highways 29, 35 and 80 and the Union Pacific
and Burlington Northern Railroads.  The U-P line was determined the most
accident-prone railroad in the U.S. in 1998.)
<
In Nevada, this lethal waste would be collected and stored where over 600
earthquakes of at least 2.5 on the Richter scale have registered in the past
20 years.

Scientists urging NO say "leave the waste at nuclear generating plants until
SAFER methods are assured".   Those in favor say the waste is safer at one
place.  In reality, waste will STILL be at every nuclear power plant, so we
are simply creating many more places where the waste is subject to accident
and terrorism.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Since the waiting list to ship waste to Yucca would be 24 to 38 years long,
high-level nuclear waste would remain on reactor sites across the U.S. for
many decades into the future.  Whatever gets shipped away would quickly be
replaced by newly generated waste at operating reactors, wastes that would
have to be stored on-site for a minimum five year cool down period.

Energy Secretary Spence Abraham's argument that Yucca would consolidate
America's nuclear waste at one site is false. In May, Abraham admitted that
Yucca would not be large enough to accommodate all the nuclear waste that
would be generated at US nuclear reactors in the years to come. In fact,
DOE's acting director of the Yucca Mountain Project told a congressional
committee in March that even if Yucca were to open and fill up, in the year
2036 there would still be nearly as much nuclear waste stored on site at
reactors across the US as there is today.

1.5 million people live in Las Vegas, a mere 90 miles from Yucca Mountain.
The nuclear industry wants to make 100,000 cross-country shipments of
nuclear waste over the next 31 years.  The deadly cargo would pass within
half a mile of 50 million Americans.  It would then be dumped at Nevada's
Yucca Mountain, even though experts fear the mountain could leak and
contaminate groundwater.

According to a recent General Accounting Office report, there are over 250
significant unresolved technical issues with the Yucca Mountain site.

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