Two extraordinary technical tours have been arranged. Yucca Mountain & Nellis Air Force Base.

No registration will be available at the Symposium for these tours. Application for access permission must be submitted by dates indicated on the Tour Registration Instructions page.


Tour Yucca Mountain, the site of what could be the United States’ first nuclear waste geologic repository. Experts throughout the world agree that the most feasible and safe method for disposing of highly radioactive materials is to store them deep underground. Based on this consensus, the United States Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 that directs the United States Department of Energy to find a site and characterize it. If the site is found suitable and a license application is approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy is to build and operate an underground disposal facility, which could be part of the nation’s first long-term solution to a compelling environmental problem.

You can be part of that experience by touring this unique and fascinating place. Your Yucca Mountain Project host and tour guide will take you from Las Vegas by first-class motor coach approximately 100 miles north into the heart of the Great Basin Desert. You will pass the training base for the United States Thunderbirds Aerial Demonstration Squadron, past the main entrance to the Nevada Test Site, site of over 1,000 above-ground and underground nuclear detonations, to the Yucca Mountain site. You will drive to the top of the mountain and be escorted into tunnels within the mountain to see the testing that is underway. You will also be introduced to scientists, engineers, and technicians who can answer your specific questions. There is no where else on earth where this can be experienced. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

No registration will be available at the Symposium for this tour. See Tour Registration Instructions.

The only expense to the tour participant is a $10.00 charge for a box lunch that will be provided. More information about Yucca Mountain is available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.ymp.gov

Tour Nellis Air Force Base, “Home of the Fighter Pilot” and home of the United States Air Force Air Warfare Center, the United States Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron – The Thunderbirds, the USAF Weapons School, and Red Flag,

The Air Warfare Center, established in October 1995, manages advanced pilot training and integrates many of the Air Force’s test and evaluation requirements. The Thunderbirds are the United States Air Force Air Demonstration squadron. The USAF Weapons School teaches graduate-level instructor courses, which provide the world’s most advanced training in weapons and tactics employment to officers of the combat air forces. Red Flag is the premiere combat training exercise involving the air forces of the United States of America and its allies.

Your tour will take you to the “Petting Zoo,” the Air Force’s term for an area set aside to exhibit some of the “gadgets” they have developed or collected over the years; the flight line where you will see some of the world’s most advanced aircraft including a possible sighting of the newest aircraft in the United States arsenal, the F-22 super fighter; and, last but certainly never least, the Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Squadron. This is a “don’t miss” opportunity!

No registration will be available at the Symposium for this tour. See Tour Registration Instructions.

More information about the United States Air Force Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Squadron is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.airforce.com/thunderbirds/.

More information about Nellis Air Force Base is available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.nellis.af.mil/. There is a charge of $10.00 per person to cover the cost of bus transportation to the base.


also available...

Tour Hoover Dam, Friday morning, August 2, tour one of America's grandest achievements, which towers 560 feet above the Colorado River. You will have time to explore the top of the Dam and view the winged statues, historical tributes, and the spillways. The Visitor Center offers an outstanding view of the Dam and features a movie on the history of the Dam and the surrounding area, along with an interesting lecture by one of the Dam guides. The Exhibit Gallery features interactive multimedia presentations about the construction of the dam and the ecology of the desert southwest. Cost of this half-day tour is $30.00 per person.