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Yucca Mountain Environmental Safety Reports Collection (MS-00786)

Abstract

The Yucca Mountain Environmental Safety Collection (1970-2011) consists of reports and impact studies collected by Clark County's Nuclear Waste Division library for documenting Yucca Mountain's potential health and safety risks to Southern Nevada. The reports contain documents pertaining to potential environmental, health, financial, and safety risks from the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository, which is located in Nye County, Nevada. The collection contains scientific and social studies in support of and opposition to the site. The bulk of the collection includes licensing reports, site selection studies, and impact studies from transporting, storing, and handling radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.

Finding Aid PDF

Date

1970 to 2011
bulk 1985 to 2011

Extent

30.69 Cubic Feet (52 boxes)
29.15 Linear Feet

Related People/Corporations

Scope and Contents Note

The Yucca Mountain Environmental Safety Collection (1970-2011) consists of reports, guidebooks, handbooks, and impact studies on research subjects relating to the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository located in Nye County, Nevada. A concentration of the collection is dedicated to the site’s licensing processes, site selection studies, and impact studies from transporting, storing, and handling radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. The collection includes environmental, gaming, health, and fiscal impacts for Clark County and Southern Nevada communities. The collection contains case studies for other U.S. states, as well as international locations, such as Canada, the Goiânia, and Native American nations, including the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians, the Timbisha Shoshone, and the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians. The collection also includes maps, atlases, correspondence, and government nuclear policies.

Access Note

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.

Arrangement

These records are organized into three series:

Series I. Yucca Mountain reports and files, 1988-2011;

Series II. Nevada, United States, and international case studies, 1970-2010;

Series III. Research subject files, 1974-2011.

Biographical / Historical Note

The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository was authorized by the United States Congress in 1987 to temporarily store radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel within Yucca Mountain’s extinct caldera. Yucca Mountain is located in Nye County, Nevada, eighty miles northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada near the Nevada Test Site. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 surveyed suitable storage sites for radioactive waste and fuel, and the 1987 Amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act established Yucca Mountain as a geologic repository. The Department of Energy administered the site, and the project was formally approved in 2002 under George W. Bush’s presidency.

The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository faced political and community concerns over the transportation, storage, and possible detrimental effects of nuclear waste pollution and radiation exposure. Nevada Senator Harry Reid staunchly opposed the Yucca Mountain project until its termination in 2011 by the Department of Energy under the Obama presidential administration.

Related Collections

The following resources may provide additional information related to the materials in this collection:

Environmental Radiation Protection Standards for Yucca Mountain, Nevada, 1957-2010. MS-00603. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Citizen Alert Records, 1971-1999. MS-00415. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mountain West's Yucca Mountain Socioeconomic Project Records, 1987-1994. MS-00756. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office Collection, 1958-2001. MS-00091. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Preferred Citation

Yucca Mountain Environmental Safety Reports Collection, 1970-2011. MS-00786. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada. http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/f1q646

Acquisition Note

Materials were donated periodically to the Library from 2000 to 2011; accession number 2010-33. There is no formal deed of gift on file.

Processing Note

In 2018, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Lee Hanover processed the collection, rehoused the materials, wrote the finding aid, and entered the data into Archives Space. In 2019, Billy Marino revised the collection description. In 2024, Libna Garcia inventoried an additional 6 boxes and Sarah Jones added it into the finding aid.

Resource Type

Collection

Collection Type

EAD ID

US::NvLN::MS00786

Finding Aid Description Rules

Describing Archives: A Content Standard
English