Skull Valley

The United States brief experience with commercial nuclear power has left the country with a long-term problem- disposing of the highly radioactive reactoe fuel that nuclear utilities produce. It is estimated that the hundred plus commercial nuclear reactors will, within the next 40 years, generate approximately 85,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel. Because the spent nuclear fuel will remain dangerous for tens of thousands of years, the most effective means of safe disposal is to bury the fuel permanetly in an underground repository. Due to the lobg-term planning required for disposal and the political sensitivity that revolves around radio active waste, the development of a permanent repository has been slow.

several nuclear facilities have joined together to develop a temporary centralized storage facility in which to place spent fuel until a permanent repository is available. Hoping to derive various economic benefits from the development, the Skull VAlley Band of Goshutes, an American Indian tribe native to Utah, has agreed to lease a portion of their reservation to host the facility.
In exchange for these benefits, the Goshutes will be helping nuclear utilities adress the variou problems created by the accumulation of spent fuel at the utilities' reactor sites. The Goshutes efforts at leasing the land for the facility has attracted opposition from environmental groups, the State if Utah, and members of their own tribr, all of whom are concerned by the dangers posed by radiation.