Friday, July 18, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

YUCCA MOUNTAIN REPOSITORY: DOE seeks input on moving nuclear waste

Event included officials from states, public safety groups, utilities and shipping firms

WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department sought to jump-start a segment of its nuclear waste program Thursday by seeking advice from state and industry experts on strategies to transport spent nuclear fuel to a Yucca Mountain repository.

Stalled for years by budget cuts, the department is refocusing on commercial nuclear waste shipping and will step up activity on a national program as the next phase of the Yucca Mountain Project, Margaret Chu, DOE director of radioactive waste, said at a conference.

"It's timely for us to reactivate our transportation program," Chu said. She said the DOE will issue its strategic plan for Yucca transportation later this year, to be followed by specific operating plans.

She added the DOE is resuming funding of regional advisory groups and has asked Congress for money in the 2004 budget to begin consulting with states and affected parties.

Chu spoke to 125 experts at a DOE-coordinated transportation conference. The meeting included representatives from states, federal transportation and nuclear agencies, public safety groups, utilities, and shipping firms planning to compete for Yucca contracts worth millions of dollars.

"This is the initiation of our discussions with stakeholders," said Jeff Williams, DOE's transportation liaison.

Industry officials who have been frustrated by DOE delays said they are eager to proceed.

Alan Hanson, president of Transnuclear, a nuclear services company, said transport firms are waiting only for DOE to finalize a repository design.

"The critical missing element is a design of the infrastructure at Yucca Mountain. We need to know what the facility is going to look like," Hanson said. "Once we know what that is, the industry can easily design what we need to get waste there."

Jack Edlow, president of Edlow International, said, "As DOE develops its plans more, the industry is fully capable of meeting the demand and coming up with new ideas."

But Robert Halstead, a transportation consultant to the state of Nevada, challenged DOE's planning, saying the department has yet to formally declare rail as a preferred transportation mode.

"You should have made those decisions last February," Halstead told Chu. "We can't go forward with this until you make decisions."

In its environmental impact study for the Yucca Mountain Project, the Energy Department said that it leaned to a mostly-railroad transportation strategy, estimating about 95 percent of nuclear waste would be sent to a Nevada repository by rail car.

But detailed plans for transporting radioactive spent fuel and nuclear waste from 131 locations in 39 states, including shipping routes, won't be formed for another two years at least, officials said. DOE envisions accepting waste at a Yucca repository by the end of 2010.

At the daylong session, DOE officials sought input on shipping casks and other hardware, safety issues and strategies to cooperate with states and local governments in route planning and emergency responder training.

Halstead proposed DOE develop a standard-design fleet of dual purpose casks that could be used for storage and for rail shipping.

Eileen Supko, a consultant whose firm Energy Resources Inc., has overseas clients, suggested DOE take lessons from European nations with experience in moving spent fuel.

Chet Poslusny, an official with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, suggested that a safety center be established at Yucca Mountain, where local transportation and emergency workers can attend safety classes.

Michigan state official Thor Strong asked DOE to rule out the possibility of waste shipments by barge since that idea has proved unpopular in Great Lakes states.

But Edlow said that option should be kept on the table. He said acceptance might grow when people learn that oil and other industrial materials are barge-shipped routinely.

"Let's not just discard this as an alternative," Edlow said.