On June 14, 2002 there was an earthquake measuring 4.4 on the Richter Scale at Yucca Mountain. That area is one of the most active volcanic zones in North America – over 600 major tremors have been registered in the last decade alone. It doesn’t seem to be a very safe place; especially for the 10,000 years that it will take the radioactive waste to become safe. Congress passed the law by an overwhelming margin. They also approved – also at the unanimous recommendation of the scientific community – to build the superconducting supercollider in Waxahachie, Texas right in the middle of “Tornado Alley.” Well, in that case the American scientists had no intention of completing the project anyway – a working model was constructed in Europe not long after ours was de-funded.
Actually that’s happened a lot lately – the Chinese putting a man in space with our technology; the Soviets have long since built a carbon copy of the space shuttle. I wonder why they won’t commission it now – unless they are afraid to let NASA fly it.