AMARGOSA VALLEY -- There were more questions than answers for some of the 44 people who came to this rural community Wednesday night to hear the Department of Energy's new plans for hauling the nation's nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain.

Some expected more details about how the 77,000 tons of used nuclear fuel and highly radioactive waste will be packed in canisters and shipped by trains and trucks to the planned repository site in the volcanic-rock ridge.

Others wanted to know if hamlets along the rail lines will be safe.

Yet others wanted to know how much the transportation scheme will cost and who will pay for the packing and transfer of nuclear materials to government haulers at reactor sites.

"It's a lack of systems engineering that sums this up," said Bob Halstead, Nevada's nuclear waste transportation consultant. "I was expecting them to do a better job."

Halstead and full-time state consultant Steve Frishman said plans the Energy Department presented for a rail corridor reaching Yucca Mountain from the north and for a multi-purpose canister to transport, age and dispose of the waste were simply too vague, and the comment period to review and offer informed insights on the project is too short.

They referred to a statement written Tuesday by the State Nuclear Projects Agency that among other things alleges California and Utah have been left "totally in the dark by DOE."

"Despite the fact that national changes in rail routing as a result of using a Mina rail spur (from the north) would mean exponentially more shipments in California and would request the use of an entirely different main line railroad segment in Utah, DOE has refused to schedule public meetings in those states or even formally seek their input," reads the statement from the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency.

Agency chief Bob Loux is scheduled to join Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., at a news conference before today's scoping meeting in Las Vegas to discuss what they say is a history of disregarding public concerns and scientific evidence in the government's effort to license and build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Allen Benson, an Energy Department spokesman for the Yucca Mountain Project, rejected any notion that the scoping meetings are flawed.

"We believe the format for the scoping meetings serves the public," Benson said. "We've gotten a lot of feedback."

The department will consider the comments gathered at the meetings, as well as written comments that are submitted, in an attempt to address issues and draft more detailed plans that will be held to public scrutiny in formal, environmental impact hearings next year, Benson said.

At least a dozen people gave statements to court reporters at Wednesday night's meeting at the Longstreet Inn. It was the first scoping meeting in Nevada on the new rail alignment plan and the transportation, aging and disposal canisters.

Halstead asserted that the plans overlook the possibility that much of the 77,000 tons of nuclear waste might be reprocessed to reduce its volume and potential lethal effects.

"There's all this talk about reprocessing," he said. "If you think reprocessing is a good idea, it raises concerns about the (transportation, aging and disposal) canister. It's going to be more difficult and costly to unload when you get it to the reprocessing plant," he said.

Frishman said he wonders if the Energy Department will address the possibility of an earthquake causing cranes to drop canisters of deadly waste when they're being handled at above-ground facilities near the mountain.

"The reality is Murphy's Law is always at work," he said.

Nancy Boland, an Esmeralda County commissioner who traveled 21/2 hours from Silver Peak to attend Wednesday's meeting, said the new rail alignment plan would bring nuclear waste "awfully close to town."

"I'm concerned about the noise and the visual effects. ... I want to make sure our people are safe," she said.

On a preliminary list of issues the Energy Department intends to address are the potential radiological impact on workers and the public from sabotage of transportation and repository operations.

Jane Summerson, the department's compliance officer and Environmental Impact Statement document manager for the project, acknowledged that sabotage would apply to Nevada and all states along transportation routes but there are currently no plans to hold formal hearings in Chicago or Denver for example. Instead, comments from those areas will probably be fielded via the Internet, she said.