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SECTION MENU
- Environmental Protection |
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The U.S. Department
of Energy is strongly confident in
its assessments of future repository
safety. However, we are still collecting
and analyzing additional information.
Beginning in 1981, scientists for the Yucca Mountain
Project conducted extensive biological studies during
site investigation and site characterization. Over the
course of sixteen years, this work provided the information
about the area’s biological resources used in
the Environmental Impact Statement for a Repository at Yucca Mountain.
The data from our environmental studies is the basis
referred to by experts for preserving the area’s
biological resources and for reclamation
planning and implementation. The data are also used
in many other Project activities. For example, they
are used in computer models
to assess the impacts of a repository on the environment
for thousands of years in the future.
Specifically, our studies included:
- Identifying native plant species
and mapping their distribution in the Yucca Mountain
region.
- Identifying native vertebrate species and their
populations in the Yucca Mountain region. These
studies included surveying populations of a variety
of mammals, reptiles, and birds.
- Identifying the most common groups of invertebrate
populations (insects, spiders, and scorpions) in
the Yucca Mountain region.
- Identifying the distribution and status of any
threatened or endangered plant or animal species
or any species that was a proposed candidate for
listing under the Endangered
Species Act. This also included identifying
species protected under the Migratory
Bird Treaty Act, the Bald
and Golden Eagle Protection Act, and the Wild
Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act
- Monitoring the desert tortoise population in the
Yucca Mountain region to understand tortoise behaviors
and migration patterns. (We are continuing to monitor
the tortoise population for effects from Project
activities by conducting surveys and documenting
tortoise activity. In addition, we conduct an ongoing
program to educate employees and the public on how
to protect the local desert tortoise population.)
- Identifying the effects of Yucca Mountain Project
activities on native flora and fauna. This included
studies of how heat generated by the waste in a
repository would affect soils, plant communities,
dominant plant species, and desert tortoises.
- Testing different reclamation
technologies (e.g., soil amendments, mulches, transplants,
soil stabilization agents, and fill materials for
replacing topsoil) and new techniques for harvesting
water and irrigating vegetation.
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