The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository was designated in 1987 by amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act as a deep geological repository storage facility for high level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel in the U.S. The Yucca Mountain project was approved by Congress in 2002, and construction began shortly thereafter; however, in 2011, federal funding to the project was cut after the federal government had already spent $9 million. Currently, the repository stands empty.
Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository is located near the Nevada Test Site within the Nellis Air Force Range.
Yucca Mountain is actually a deep volcanic ridge that was created from an extinct caldera or super-volcano. It gradually rises from a 4,000 feet in height to 6,000 feet and measures six miles in length.
NRC staff visiting the site of the Yucca Mountain Repository project during its construction. Located on federally owned desert land approximately 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Yucca Mountain was the highest ranked of nine proposed nuclear storage sites.
The entrance to the repository.
During its original construction, tour groups from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would visit often to check on the project's progress.
This large 25-foot diameter tunnel borer created the repository 1,000 feet below Yucca Mountain's ridge and 1,000 feet above the area's water table.
The tunnel borer in action.
The repository was designed to hold up to 125,000 metric tonnes (MT) of high-level waste. The federal government had originally planned to store such waste here for the next 10,000 years.
NRC staff deep within the repository during its construction.
Looking west atop Yucca Mountain toward Death Valley and Beatty.
A beautiful aerial view of Yucca Mountain.
For more information about the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Depository project, please click here.
Have you had the opportunity to visit this site? Please share your experiences or thoughts about the project below.
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