Nuclear waste is nasty stuff. The inevitable by-product of all atomic-power plants, it remains radioactive for up to 3 million years and necessitates heavy shielding to protect any human or animal life that may come near it. The U.S. Congress believed it had conquered the problem of where to put such waste when in 1987 it ordered the Department of Energy to focus on building a national dump site in Nevada. By 2003, the Government promised, spent fuel from the country's 110 commercial nuclear reactors would be trundled across states and safely buried deep within Yucca Mountain, an isolated peak about...
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