Workers prepare to board a shuttle train into the main portal of the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository on April 13. U.S. Energy Department officials are reconsidering a northern rail route that would see the waste transported from nuclear power plants around the nation through such rural Nevada communities as Winnemucca, Silver Springs, Hawthorne and Mina. REVIEW-JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

WASHINGTON -- While the Walker River Paiutes will allow the Energy Department to study shipping nuclear waste through their reservation, tribal leaders said Friday they will not sign off on the route unless they are convinced it is safe.

The study would include a new rail segment through the outskirts of the reservation north of Walker Lake so that shipments of radioactive spent fuel and also high explosive ordnance from the Hawthorne Army Ammunition Depot would be diverted away from the town of Schurz, according to tribal Chairwoman Genia Williams.

As part of the deal, the tribe also must be assured the Energy Department will ban truck shipments of nuclear waste on U.S. Highway 95 that bisects the reservation as it proceeds south to the proposed Yucca Mountain repository.

"Safety is the motivating factor for our decision," Williams said.

"Let me make it clear that we have not said yes to the route through our reservation until we fully evaluate comprehensive studies on a new rail route that would be constructed miles away from our main population center," she said.

The Walker River Paiute Tribal Council on April 13 reversed a 15-year policy of refusing to allow the federal government to explore a railroad path through the tribe's sovereign reservation for nuclear waste.

The council's decision has prompted DOE to revive an alignment it had studied in the 1980s and early 1990s that would carry shipments through Northern and western Nevada along existing rail, and on a new 209-mile rail line that could be built from Hawthorne to Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

A base route that was identified would cross Northern Nevada on Union Pacific rail, turn south at Winnemucca, pass east of Fernley, through the growing community of Silver Springs and Wabuska, through the Walker River reservation and to Hawthorne.

Rail improvements and construction would proceed to Mina and near or through Tonopah and Goldfield, and south to the repository site near Amargosa Valley.

Some of the path might run atop abandoned rail alignments that once serviced mining operations.

Although extensive environmental surveys would need to be performed, some transportation experts said the so-called Mina route looks to be shorter, less expensive and faster to build than a 319-mile corridor originating in Caliente in southeastern Nevada that is now being studied through an official environmental impact statement.

But the western route would carry nuclear waste through a larger portion of Nevada, and within 50 miles of Reno and Carson City.

The possibility drew a mixed reaction Friday from Nevadans in that area.

One state lawmaker questioned the wisdom of moving the hazardous material through even more of the state than would occur with other proposed routes.

But a Silver Springs resident said the route could bring economic opportunities for the small town 35 miles east of the capital.

"If you had to figure out how to ship the waste, it should be the most direct route," said state Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, who represents the Silver Springs area. "Increasing the number of miles it has to travel through Nevada would just increase the opportunity for mishaps."

Amodei, who has opposed using Yucca Mountain as a repository for the nation's nuclear waste, said the transportation issue has always had implications for Northern Nevada, although this newest idea could make it even more significant for area residents.

But Kay Bennett, a member of the board of directors of the Silver Springs Area Chamber of Commerce, said the route could prove economically beneficial to the community.

"They would have to upgrade that rail line, which would bring added business and industry to our community," she said. "We have some industrial property along that spur, and we are strategically located here at the intersection of U.S. Highway 50 and U.S. Highway 95."

The industrial land is reasonably priced compared to other areas of Northern Nevada, said Bennett, manager of the Silver Springs Airport.

The community would have to know more about the safety precautions for such a project before it could reasonably react, she said. But Bennett said the waste has to go somewhere, and there is the chance for Nevada to benefit economically if that place is Yucca Mountain.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., dismissed the promise that nuclear waste will bring economic improvements.

"For more than 20 years, Nevadans have heard tall tales of supposed fortunes to be made from Yucca Mountain, and these new claims about economic development are about as credible as an offer to buy a piece of the Hoover Dam or beachfront property in Pioche," Berkley said.

John Milton, chairman of the Humboldt County Commission, said transporting nuclear waste would be a concern to residents, particularly in the town of Winnemucca. There are concerns now when train cars with unknown cargo are sometimes left on sidings there for varying periods of time.

"Residents are concerned with what is being shipped now. If it was nuclear waste, they would really be concerned," he said.

The county has never taken an official position on whether Yucca Mountain should be used to store nuclear waste, Milton said.

DOE officials have not commented beyond acknowledging meeting with the Walker River Paiutes and confirming they are considering their options.

The department's general counsel reportedly is researching whether the Caliente environmental statement could legally be amended to include the western Nevada route.

The Energy Department's consideration of a nuclear waste shipping route through Northern and western Nevada was like waving a red flag in front of Nevada lawmakers in Congress who condemn most of DOE's activities at Yucca Mountain.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., believes a railroad path that would bring nuclear waste "even closer to highly populated areas is a reflection of DOE's arrogance," spokesman Jack Finn said.

"Obviously to Senator Ensign there is no acceptable route for high-level nuclear waste through Nevada," Finn said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said "it doesn't matter where the railroad goes because Yucca Mountain will never happen."

Reid suggested the Walker River Paiutes may see an opportunity for jobs and economic betterment.

"I have worked a lot with the Indians," Reid said. "They are economically working, looking for anything that might help with poverty."

In a statement Friday, tribal Chairwoman Williams said the tribe was motivated by the possibility that, if not by rail, nuclear waste would end up crossing the reservation on trucks traveling U.S. 95. The tribe has no control over the highway, she said.

DOE's transportation plan calls for some nuclear waste shipments to be made by truck while most would travel by rail.

Department spokesman Allen Benson said it could be possible for nuclear waste to pass through the Walker River reservation although it is too soon to say. DOE is allowed by regulation to use federal highways, he said, although the state has the ability to designate alternative routes.

"I fully understand that there may be opposition from other tribal communities and other Nevada communities to our decision but I must be concerned with the safety of our community if we are faced with high-level transportation directly through my community," Williams said.

Williams declined to be interviewed Friday, referring to the statement and to a May 4 letter the tribe sent to DOE.

In the letter signed by Williams, tribal leaders expressed concern about high-level explosives that pass by rail through Schurz from the Hawthorne depot.

They suggested construction of a new rail line that would redirect traffic to the reservation's northern outskirts.

Williams stressed the tribe was not agreeing to allow nuclear waste to pass through the reservation, "but to only allow the completion of the (environmental impact study) so that the tribe can make a more informed final decision."

The tribe also said it would need an unspecific amount of funding for consultants, attorneys, lobbyists, public relations personnel, emergency service workers and also travel reimbursements to attend meetings about the environmental studies.