LAS VEGAS, June 14 (UPI) -- A modest earthquake measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale rolled through the Nevada desert with little notice early Friday, but it shook up the opponents of plans to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, less than 13 miles from the quake's epicenter.
While some residents of western Nevada described the temblor as a gentle rolling motion, it was enough to awaken scores of startled desert residents shortly before 6 a.m. and further fuel arguments against the controversial plan for a national nuclear waste repository.
"If anyone ever wondered about the wisdom of locating an underground radioactive dump site on an active fault line, this shows why," Rep. Shelley Berkeley, D-Nev., fired off in a release. "The Yucca Mountain project is inherently dangerous."
The White House and Energy Department selected Yucca Mountain earlier this year as the final resting place for 77,000 tons of nuclear waste that would be transported in from around the United States. The administration and the energy industry has said that something needs to be done with the materials currently stored in dozens of temporary depots, but Nevada lawmakers are vehemently opposing the project and have urged the Senate to block the project.
"This earthquake is a wake-up call for the U.S. Senate," Berkeley said.
The Energy Department reassured Nevadans that the geology of Yucca Mountain was such that it could withstand the pounding of much stronger earthquakes, and the containers in which the material will be held would add yet another sturdy layer of protection.
"There is no story here," Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis told the Las Vegas Sun. "This is a dog bites mailman story."
But other opponents warned that "the Big One" was another story and could result in the storage facilities being breached and possibly flooded with groundwater, which would be contaminated for generations.
"We also need to remember that this was not an isolated incident," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "Yucca Mountain is a region of frequent earthquake activity."
(Reported by Hil Anderson in Los Angeles)
