Saturday, March 06, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Rail corridor plan faces scrutiny

House panel hears doubts about nuclear waste shipping methods, routes

Gary Lanthrum, radioactive waste transportation chief for the Department of Energy, speaks Friday to members of the House Subcommittee on Railroads meeting in Las Vegas. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Click image for enlargement. Graphic by Mike Johnson.

The Department of Energy is putting "the caboose before the engine" by proceeding with plans to withdraw land or seek a right of way for a 319-mile railroad corridor in rural Nevada to haul nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, a state official told a House subcommittee Friday.

The department intends to first select the route known as the Caliente Corridor or another route and to ask questions about environmental and safety concerns later, said state Nuclear Projects Agency chief Bob Loux.

"The fact is DOE has no transportation plan. ... In this case, it's putting the caboose before the engine," Loux told the House Subcommittee on Railroads during a hearing at the Clark County Government Center.

Nevada's representatives on the subcommittee said they would pursue a bill suggested by former Nevada Sen. Richard Bryan to require the Energy Department to develop a credible, safety-based transportation plan and draft an environmental impact statement before the agency applies for a license to construct a repository, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

DOE officials have said they intend to submit a license application in December for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to review. That means such a bill, if passed by Congress and signed by the president, could push the project back a couple years in light of what it takes to prepare those documents and gather comments for a project of that magnitude.

"I think we have some allies," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said after the hearing, referring to her out-of-state colleagues on the subcommittee. A half dozen members attended Friday's hearing.

"When we get back to Congress, we're going to work on this as a team," she said about the bill.

Her comments were echoed by subcommittee member Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., who noted, "Right now there's not a (transportation) plan in place and not a requirement for one."

DOE's radioactive waste transportation chief, Gary Lanthrum, and Surface Transportation Board Chairman Roger Nober tried at the hearing to explain the legal process their agencies are following. But Porter said afterward they didn't answer the broad questions about safety and security of nuclear waste shipments and the potential for terrorist attacks.

Lanthrum said he anticipates that by late April the department will decide on a mode of transportation, mostly rail or mostly truck, and then select routes.

"We anticipate that in the near future we will issue a record of decision to make a transportation mode decision and, as appropriate, a corridor selection, but we have not done so yet," Lanthrum said, reading from a statement to the subcommittee chaired by Jack Quinn, R-New York.

"We believe that we can implement a transportation system that is safe and secure and merits public confidence," Lanthrum said.

Under questioning from Porter about moving forward with the project against the wishes of Nevada, Lanthrum explained that his office is following the law and the will of Congress, which approved the Yucca Mountain site.

"We don't believe moving ahead is thumbing our nose at the state of Nevada," Lanthrum said.

At the hearing Nevada's transportation adviser, Robert Halstead, said selecting the preferred Caliente rail corridor would not keep trains hauling nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain out of Las Vegas.

The number of nuclear-waste rail shipments through Las Vegas over the 24-year hauling campaign could be as low as 660, or 7 percent of the total, or as high as 8,564, or 89 percent of the total.

In his opening remarks, Porter warned of dangers from hauling nuclear waste by rail along with general freight.

"The risks of collision and derailment exist at every point within the system and especially within the rail yards of our major cities," he said. "Every day, thousands of cars are slammed together to form trains. Under current plans, nuclear waste could be mixed in with trains carrying cars, cows or candy."

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said from his state's perspective the transportation risks were never adequately assessed before Congress approved the Yucca Mountain Project in 2002.

Wilderness advocates, as well, noted that endangered species and three wilderness study areas would be affected if the Caliente rail corridor is chosen.

Berkley raised the specter of a terrorist attack on nuclear waste bound for Yucca Mountain. She questioned the secrecy shrouding contingency plans for dealing with such a threat.

"This is something the public should know, because it affects them in a very direct way," she said.

Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., was equally concerned about a terrorist attack.

"I have a great amount of concern since Sept. 11 (2001) of what we should be doing in terms of rail safety," she said.

Rep. Julia Carson, D- Ind., said she, too, is concerned about the volume of nuclear waste shipments that would pass through Indianapolis, but she said she realizes that DOE has a different objective.

"Your job is to design a plan to get rid of this stuff, dump it somewhere," she said.

Although he was not invited to participate in the field hearing, Caliente Mayor Kevin Phillips, in written comments, accused Nevada and Clark County officials of seeking to delay DOE's transportation decisions. He said the repository's final impact statement is adequate for selecting a preferred transportation mode and routes.