For others, "nuclear" means power. A source of electricity that can be safely used to meet our nation's ever increasing demand for energy. It is the key to the future.

The vast majority of us find ourselves somewhere between these sharply divided opinions.

Radiation doses and safety standards in the nuclear industry can be confusing to the average person. The handling and disposing of nuclear fuel are issues we seldom think about.

But these issues are rushing toward Utah, the American West and the Nation as a whole in a dramatic fashion. For fifty years nuclear power has been part of our nation's industrial and military planning. And, through that same half century, the nation has delayed forging a permanent solution to disposing of the still potent radioactive waste that comes from nuclear power plants.

Time is running out. . .decisions must be made. And Utah and Nevada find themselves at the center of controversy over plans to store arguably the most lethal of the nation's industrial waste.

This Web site. . .as a companion to the KUED-TV documentary Skull Valley. . .is designed to help the average person negotiate their way through complex issues and fierce debate associated with the storage of nuclear waste. Those storage plans include proposals for the Skull Valley area of Utah and the Yucca Mountain area of Nevada.

Both Web site and documentary represent a concerted effort to offer a balanced perspective on these highly charged issues.

You will find an area of this site exclusively dedicated to the documentary that will provide full access to all of the 22 interviews conducted during production of the program, the full documentary script, and a candid discussion with program Producer/Director Ken Verdoia.

We will offer you glimpses of our nation's nuclear history through a timeline, as well as consider some of the more stark reminders of Utah's brush with nuclear weapons testing in the past. While we will strive for overall balance, you will be able to access a wide variety of concerned voices that speak passionately from both sides of the issue of nuclear power. You will be able to meet and hear the arguments of the main players in the Utah battle over temporary storage of high level radioactive waste. You'll be able to visually weigh the enormous amount of nuclear waste in need of storage, and consider the road to Utah that the waste might follow if the Skull Valley proposal is approved by federal regulators.

Of greatest importance is our desire to provide you with direct links to other resources, provide educational material for teachers through our learning center, and stay current on the latest news on waste storage and review developments through our news archive created through the cooperation of The Deseret News and The Salt Lake Tribune..

Finally, we hope you will consider this site an opportunity for you to raise your voice on the issue of storage of radioactive waste. Whether supporter or opponent, your opinion matters. . .and your response to our simple survey will serve as an unscientific reading of opinion among those who visit this site.

Finally, you can feel free to contact us with your questions about Web site content, educational materials or the KUED documentary Skull Valley.

Thank you for visiting this site. And, please, share this location with your friends so that they might better understand an issue that is certain to have a powerful impact on our state and our region. . And may even shape the future of our nation.