Goal:
An important part of HOME’s mission is to
encourage citizen (including youth) awareness and participation in issues that
affect the Great Basin region. To this end, we would like to challenge students to think about
the possibility that the Great Basin might be host to a radioactive waste dump at Yucca
Mountain. In spring 2007, we took the two students with the best
essays on Nuclear Issues in Our Times from Washoe Co. Nevada to
Washington DC.
Format:
Students need to submit their essay with name, question chosen, school, and
teacher. The essay should be between 400 and 600 words (not including the
bibliography), typed, and doubled spaced.
Content:
Each student contestant will select
one of the four questions to address. It is expected
that the work will be that of the student, and references (bibliography) used in
formulating her essay will be listed.
Deadline:
Essays need to be submitted to the HOME mailbox
(John Hadder, P O Box 6595 Reno, NV 89513) postmarked by December 6, 2006, or
received by email to
hadder@gbis.com, and labeled “Nuclear Issues in Our Times.” Please contact
John Hadder/HOME at 775-348-1986 (T, Th, F), or
hadder@gbis.com if there are complications. The winners will be announced
in January when the students return to school.
Prizes:
There will be two winners chosen in Washoe Co. Contest winners will receive a
trip to Washington DC from March 23 to March 30. They will participate and/or
observe the DC Days lobbying event from March 26 to 29, and have a few free days
to see Washington. The lobbying event called “DC Days” is organized by the
Alliance for Nuclear Accountability , in which HOME is a member organization.
DC Days focuses on issues related to nuclear weapons and waste, and as a member
of the Nevada contingent students will see how the lobbying activity is
accomplished for grassroots public interest groups as ours. They will meet with
our own delegation and possibly other members of Congress.
Judging:
will be done by the Washoe Co. School district English coordinator Carol
Harriman, UNR Journalism professor Jake Highton, and WNCC English professor
Michon Mackedon.
Essay Questions, students choose one:
On August 22, 2005 the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) issued a new proposed radiation protection standard for
Yucca Mountain. (The previous
standard was vacated by the courts). This standard may also be thrown out by
the courts. If this happens there maybe an attempt by pro-Yucca dump
legislators to try to pass a bill that would bypass any new EPA standard, i.e.,
remove the EPA from its role of setting the Yucca Mountain radiation standard.
Discuss the implications that this kind of legislation would have on
environmental protection at Yucca Mountain and across the nation.
Yucca Mountain continues to be
the target for the Nation’s most radioactive waste from nuclear power reactors
and Dept. of Energy nuclear weapons site across the country. Yucca Mountain is
an important issue to Nevadans, but what about people in other states?. How
would the Yucca Mountain Project, if it continues, affect people outside of
Nevada? Why should people outside of Nevada care about what happens to this
project? In considering this question it might be useful to explore the
affect upon people who live in a community near a nuclear reactor, how the waste
would get to Yucca Mountain, and the impact on our national energy policy.
Suppose that Yucca Mountain does become the
Nation’s high-level radioactive waste dump. Explore how Nevada will change.
In considering this question think about the sociological and psychological
aspects of what is means to be a Nevadan, how the dump will affect our
relationship to the environment, and the geographical implications of the dump
in southern Nevada - north versus south attitudes, relationships, and politics.
The Bush Administration announced in February
of 2006 an initiative called the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, which will
encourage nuclear power development internationally. Explore how this
initiative could impact the Yucca Mountain Project. Here is the government’s
webpage on this,
http://www.gnep.energy.gov/.
Please contact John
Hadder, HOME Nevada Programs Director, at 775-284-1989 (T, Th, F) or hadder@gbis.com with any
questions you may have.
