I have to admit I have a kind of giddy affection for news on Yucca Mountain. This started for me in the mid-80s when the NYT covered a $2Million DOE grant to semiotic experts. The DOE wanted warning signs good for 10,000 years. The Times published renderings by the contest applicants which, if you're a fan of Edward Gorey, had the same kind of macabre appeal. I remember chuckling for hours, and even now make the occasional foray back to the signage debate to see what's current. If this problem tickles your imagination, you can visit the DOE's "The Monumental Task of Warning Future Generations" at
http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/...
For the artistically inclined, you can visit DesertSpace.org's 2001 contest, now a traveling exhibit, titled "Universal Warning Sign: Yucca Mountain" at
http://www.desertspace.org/...
Yucca Mountain is 12 years behind schedule and the news today is that Congress approved only $450Million for 2006, reflecting what AP reporter Erica Werner terms "the faltering prospects for the project." But as one commentator says, "Yucca Mountain is not a perfect place to store waste. But there is no perfect place." http://www.sfgate.com/...
There have been quite a few diaries here supporting nuclear fuel as a means to worm our way out of Peak Oil. What I'd like to know is how supporters intend to deal with nuclear waste? The floor is open.