The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository

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hot geothermal water from below has been there before and, therefore, could return. DOE mining engineers says those crystalline forms are more likely the result of minute amounts of water migrating from above over thousands of years. The issue was raised by a former DOE employee turned whistle-blower, Jerry Szymanski, who reported evidence of past geothermal activity for Yucca Mountain and that the area goes through periods with three times as much moisture. DOE maintained for many years it takes thousands of years for water to make its way through Yucca Mountain to the repository 800 feet below ground. But last year, scientists found "bomb pulse" water - water containing unique radioactive traces that could only come from atomic tests conducted within the last 50 years. That proves the water made it through the mountain less than half a century. That should disqualify the site based on the speed of groundwater flow through the mountain. But according to Dan Soter the U.S. ...

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temperature of the actual canisters. He said the good news is that the heat expanded the rock, tightening some of the features in it. And he said an earlier small scale test now nearly cooled to mountain temperature showed very little water moving back in. The bad news: Just two weeks after the heaters were turned, water forced from the seemingly dry rock began dripping into the main tunnel. That raised concerns the heat could cause water to begin dripping onto nuclear waste canisters, great speeding their deterioration. McNeely said scientists hope that, as heat drives water out of the rock surrounding the disposal tunnel, it will create an "umbrella effect" - a super dry barrier around ...

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