FILE - In this July 14, 2018, file photo, a sign warns of a falling danger on the crest of Yucca Mountain during a congressional tour near Mercury, Nev. Nevada's governor and congressional delegation say recent earthquakes should make the U.S. Energy Department look again at seismic risks at a site eyed as the place to bury the nation's nuclear waste, Wednesday, July 17, 2019. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Nevada: Feds should restudy seismic risk at nuke dump site

July 18, 2019 - 1:19 am

The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada's governor and congressional delegation are pointing to earthquakes this month in the California desert and calling for the U.S. Energy Department look again at seismic risks of burying the nation's most radioactive nuclear waste at a site in the Mojave Desert.

In a opinions by the state's top earthquake experts: James Faulds at the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology and Graham Kent at the seismological laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno.

They said scientific tools developed since Yucca Mountain was studied in the 1980s and 1990s could provide enhanced satellite imaging of desert surface features; new mapping of faults and seismic hazards; better charts of the age and frequency of past earthquakes; and help create models for the effects of quakes close and far from Yucca Mountain.

"The Ridgecrest earthquake sequence, which began July 4 and has yet to subside, clearly highlights the importance of such studies," Faulds and Kent said.

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This story has been corrected to show the Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology expert's name is James Faulds, not James Faults.

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