4.7 Quake Rattles Nevada Test Site

The strongest of a series of earthquakes to hit the Nevada Test Site tipped over files and knocked pictures from walls Wednesday at a remote facility. It also brought another demand for nearby Yucca Mountain to be disqualified as a place to store highly radioactive nuclear waste.

The latest jolt measured magnitude 4.7 and struck the Frenchman Flat area at 2:44 a.m. It followed two earthquakes in the same area Monday, the largest of which was measured by the National Earthquake Information Center in Denver at 4.5.

Although the earthquakes were centered in remote areas where only a few buildings stand, they occurred about 35 miles from Yucca Mountain, which is targeted as the site of the nation’s first nuclear waste dump.

“This is just another serious warning about the unsuitability of the Yucca Mountain site,” said Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.). “I hope the Department of Energy is taking seriously these early warning signs of geologic instability in the area.”