Tex-New Mex. Radioactive Rangers
Committed to stopping the development of a nuclear corridor in West TX and Eastern NM
About us:
The Tex-NewMex Radioactive Rangers is an interstate coalition of non-governmental organizations, community leaders and individuals that are committed to stopping the development of a corridor of nuclear development in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. Our primary goal is to halt development of a uranium enrichment facility proposed by Louisiana Energy Services in Lea County, New Mexico in order that the waste produced by the facility will not be stored 1/2 mile over the border at Waste Control Specialists in Andrews County, Texas.
We pursue legal, regulatory, technical and community organizing options for stopping these facilities and ensuring that the public's voice is represented in discussions of development of a nuclear corridor in this region.
We pursue legal, regulatory, technical and community organizing options for stopping these facilities and ensuring that the public's voice is represented in discussions of development of a nuclear corridor in this region.
Nuclear Waste and Disposal
Since the development of the first nuclear weapon at Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico, the United States has produced a mountain of nuclear waste through both weapons and nuclear energy production. Nuclear energy produces waste at every phase of its development and use, most of which cannot be managed.
First, uranium ore must be mined from the ground. There are natural uranium deposits all over the world, including one in western New Mexico that was mined heavily in the middle of the 20th century. Uranium mining produces a waste product called “tails” that is composed of radioactive sandstone left after the uranium has been removed. It is estimated that there are approximately 140 million tons of this radioactive waste sitting in eight western states and Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This includes several tons that are vulnerable to dispersion in Church Rock, New Mexico. In fact, on July 16, 1979, a dam containing thousands of gallons of radioactive wastewater broke releasing eleven hundred tons of radioactive mill wastes and ninety million gallons of contaminated liquid. The waste poured through the community and towards the Rio Puerco, upon which thousands of people rely for agriculture. The accident is considered the largest radioactive release in United States’ history, aside from the bomb tests of the 1940s and 1950s. As a result of this accident, community members are forced to import water from other areas because their water remains contaminated.
Next, the enrichment process produces depleted uranium, which is the primary issue of concern regarding the LES facility. For more information about this waste and the LES facility, please click here.
There are 740,000 tons of depleted uranium waste sitting at Department of Energy sites at Paducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This waste must be converted to a more stable form before it can be permanently disposed. Currently, there is neither a conversion nor a disposal facility in the United States that can manage this glut of waste.
Enriched uranium is fabricated in fuel rods, which are loaded into nuclear reactors and undergo a fission reaction. Fission forms other intensely radioactive isotopes, including cesium and strontium, which increases the radioactivity of the fuel rod. After they have been used, these fuel rods are called “spent fuel rods,” and are managed by the Department of Energy as high-level radioactive waste.
Although this waste accounts for only 1% of the total volume of nuclear waste in the country, it is so dangerous that it comprises 95% of the total radioactivity. By 1996, there were 32,000 metric tons of irradiated fuel from nuclear energy generation in the United States. The waste contains approximately 25 billion curies of radioactivity, which are approximately two trillion counts per minute. In comparison, natural radiation can be measured between two and twenty counts per minute. Moreover, this waste will be dangerous for millions of years.
Like depleted uranium waste, there is currently no permanent disposal solution for spent fuel rods. However, since the late 1970s, the Department of Energy, under direction of the United States Congress, has been investigating developing a permanent geologic repository for this waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, despite much public opposition.
Yucca Mountain, which is located approximately 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, would store 63,000 metric tons of commercial high-level radioactive waste that is currently located at 77 sites nationwide. There has been great debate about Yucca Mountain given that it sits in an extremely active earthquake zone. Since 1976, there have been more than 600 seismic events of a magnitude 2.5 or greater on the Richter Scale. Further, it is located in the Amargosa Valley, which is home to several operating dairies that produce 35,000 gallons of milk per day. It is above the Amargosa Aquifer, which may be the nation’s largest underground river and provides water to Los Angeles, California.
Also, waste storage at Yucca Mountain would require shipment of extremely dangerous radioactive waste from 43 states across the nation. The shipments will put at risk 55 million Americans as waste moves along transportation routes located 1/2 mile past homes, schools and hospitals. Department of Energy estimates indicate that at least 50 accidents will occur during the operating lifetime of Yucca Mountain. A 1986 study found that an accident in a rural setting involving a high-speed impact, fire and fuel oxidation would contaminate a 42 square mile area, require 462 days to clean up and cost $620 million.
Most recently, Yucca Mountain has come under fire because it was discovered that the United States Geologic Survey has falsified many scientific documents supporting Yucca Mountain. Also, the Western Shoshone, on whose land Yucca Mountain is located, have sued arguing that siting a high-level radioactive waste repository there would violate the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley between the tribe and the United States government.
Add to this the transuranic and low-level waste that is produced nationwide through the nuclear weapons program, and it is clear that there is far more waste in the United States than can be appropriately managed.
(Information courtesy of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.)
First, uranium ore must be mined from the ground. There are natural uranium deposits all over the world, including one in western New Mexico that was mined heavily in the middle of the 20th century. Uranium mining produces a waste product called “tails” that is composed of radioactive sandstone left after the uranium has been removed. It is estimated that there are approximately 140 million tons of this radioactive waste sitting in eight western states and Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This includes several tons that are vulnerable to dispersion in Church Rock, New Mexico. In fact, on July 16, 1979, a dam containing thousands of gallons of radioactive wastewater broke releasing eleven hundred tons of radioactive mill wastes and ninety million gallons of contaminated liquid. The waste poured through the community and towards the Rio Puerco, upon which thousands of people rely for agriculture. The accident is considered the largest radioactive release in United States’ history, aside from the bomb tests of the 1940s and 1950s. As a result of this accident, community members are forced to import water from other areas because their water remains contaminated.
Next, the enrichment process produces depleted uranium, which is the primary issue of concern regarding the LES facility. For more information about this waste and the LES facility, please click here.
There are 740,000 tons of depleted uranium waste sitting at Department of Energy sites at Paducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This waste must be converted to a more stable form before it can be permanently disposed. Currently, there is neither a conversion nor a disposal facility in the United States that can manage this glut of waste.
Enriched uranium is fabricated in fuel rods, which are loaded into nuclear reactors and undergo a fission reaction. Fission forms other intensely radioactive isotopes, including cesium and strontium, which increases the radioactivity of the fuel rod. After they have been used, these fuel rods are called “spent fuel rods,” and are managed by the Department of Energy as high-level radioactive waste.
Although this waste accounts for only 1% of the total volume of nuclear waste in the country, it is so dangerous that it comprises 95% of the total radioactivity. By 1996, there were 32,000 metric tons of irradiated fuel from nuclear energy generation in the United States. The waste contains approximately 25 billion curies of radioactivity, which are approximately two trillion counts per minute. In comparison, natural radiation can be measured between two and twenty counts per minute. Moreover, this waste will be dangerous for millions of years.
Like depleted uranium waste, there is currently no permanent disposal solution for spent fuel rods. However, since the late 1970s, the Department of Energy, under direction of the United States Congress, has been investigating developing a permanent geologic repository for this waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, despite much public opposition.
Yucca Mountain, which is located approximately 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, would store 63,000 metric tons of commercial high-level radioactive waste that is currently located at 77 sites nationwide. There has been great debate about Yucca Mountain given that it sits in an extremely active earthquake zone. Since 1976, there have been more than 600 seismic events of a magnitude 2.5 or greater on the Richter Scale. Further, it is located in the Amargosa Valley, which is home to several operating dairies that produce 35,000 gallons of milk per day. It is above the Amargosa Aquifer, which may be the nation’s largest underground river and provides water to Los Angeles, California.
Also, waste storage at Yucca Mountain would require shipment of extremely dangerous radioactive waste from 43 states across the nation. The shipments will put at risk 55 million Americans as waste moves along transportation routes located 1/2 mile past homes, schools and hospitals. Department of Energy estimates indicate that at least 50 accidents will occur during the operating lifetime of Yucca Mountain. A 1986 study found that an accident in a rural setting involving a high-speed impact, fire and fuel oxidation would contaminate a 42 square mile area, require 462 days to clean up and cost $620 million.
Most recently, Yucca Mountain has come under fire because it was discovered that the United States Geologic Survey has falsified many scientific documents supporting Yucca Mountain. Also, the Western Shoshone, on whose land Yucca Mountain is located, have sued arguing that siting a high-level radioactive waste repository there would violate the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley between the tribe and the United States government.
Add to this the transuranic and low-level waste that is produced nationwide through the nuclear weapons program, and it is clear that there is far more waste in the United States than can be appropriately managed.
(Information courtesy of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety.)
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