Geologists working for the U.S. Geological Survey and
the state of Nevada have discovered a new earthquake fault cutting
directly through Yucca Mountain, the site slated for the nation’s
first high-level nuclear waste repository. Geologists believe the
new sheer zone, combined with the already known Ghost Dance Fault,
could reduce the underground space available for storing nuclear
waste by as much as 20 percent. The fault could force the
Department of Energy to undertake yet another major redesign of the
proposed dump. The new fault zone will be among the issues
discussed at an International High Level Waste Conference in Las
Vegas in May.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Yucca Mountain’s fault.
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