After 10,000 years, the New York Times reports, all the canisters may degrade. What may be worse is that an earthquake at Yucca Mountain could cause groundwater to surge into the storage area, forcing dangerous amounts of plutonium into the atmosphere and contaminating the water supply. This is not an unlikely scenario, given that the area is a seismic minefield. Over the last 20 years, more than 621 earthquakes have been recorded in the area, at a magnitude of 2.5 or higher. This may be why the nuclear industry has opposed setting any groundwater radiation standards for the facility, saying it could threaten the entire project.
Shoshone groups are adamant that any additional radiation risk to their community is unacceptable.
The Shoshone suffer from widespread cancer, leukemia and other diseases because of fallout from more than 600 atomic explosions in their territory. To add to this risk is outlandish injustice. In the meantime, pending congressional legislation would rewrite the NWPA to strip the EPA of all authority to set radiation standards at Yucca Mountain. With the stroke of a pen, such legislation would miraculously overcome most of the public health hurdles to the Yucca Mountain project. What this means is that the utility companies will be abdicating responsibility for waste they created over the past 30 years.