AS PEOPLE in Nevada are gearing up to oppose the US Department of Energy’s plans for a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, a local scientist has come up with more ammunition for the protesters.
Eugene Smith, a geologist at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, says the site of the proposed dump lies along a line of old volcanoes with a troubling history of eruptions. Some erupt more often than official estimates suggest, Smith claims, and from time to time the whole area goes through periods of increased volcanic activity.
The flaw in the Department of Energy’s assessments,…
