Yucca Mountain News Clips
Friday, June 13, 2003
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Congressman Jim Gibbons
June 12, 2003

Gibbons Asks Nellis AFB To Outline Yucca Mountain Effects on Training

Nevada Lawmaker Asserts Detriment to Military Training Yet Another Reason Why Yucca Mountain Project Should Not Proceed

 Washington, D.C.— Adding to the numerous risks and problems associated with the Department of Energy´s plan for a high-level nuclear waste storage site at Yucca Mountain, U.S. Congressman Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.) today asked Nellis Air Force Base leadership to outline how such a site would affect their training and exercises.

"I have serious concerns about the impact the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Site might have on the operations at the Nellis Test and Training Range (NTTR)," stated Gibbons, a former Air Force pilot and a member of the House Armed Services Committee. "A recent report outlines specific Nellis operations as hazards to the Yucca Mountain Site which could warrant changes in training. As Nellis continues to address problematic encroachment issues, I fear the Yucca Mountain Site will become a vast ‘red-circle´ that chips away at the quality of training the Nellis Range offers. It is yet another reason why a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain is not in Nevada´s or this nation´s best interests. "

The text of Gibbons´ letter to Major General Stephen G. Wood, Commander, Air Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base is below.

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Dear General Wood:

I recently reviewed a Predecisional Study Document, Identification of Aircraft Hazards, dated June 2002, prepared by Bechtel SAIC for the Department of Energy. The report identified potential aircraft hazards that may be applicable to a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. After reviewing the report, I have serious concerns about the impact that the proposed repository might have on the operations conducted on the Nellis Test and Training Range (NTTR).

Although the report makes no conclusions as to the threat of an incident involving an aircraft accident near the site, it does identify specific Nellis operations as hazards to the site. The Southwest Low Altitude Tactical Navigation (LATN) area, aircraft using R-4808, portions of the 60-series ranges, and EC South, and aircraft operating on IR-286, VR-222, and VR-1214 were all identified as hazards to proposed site. Once these hazards are quantified, I fear that the site will become a vast "red-circle" that chips away at the quality of training that the NTTR offers.

I know, firsthand, how aggressively Nellis instructs pilots to fly as to prevent further encroachment on the ranges. No one wants another "red-circle" on the map that pilots have to worry about. I also appreciate how willing the Air Force is to work around new restrictions to maintain a good relationship with its neighbors around the NTTR. However, our nation´s pilots should not suffer another encroachment on their scarce training ranges without a full review of the impact. Does the Air Force, and Nellis Air Force Base, believe that the proposed repository will have an adverse impact on its flying operations? Would the loss of the LATN, the low level routes, or portions of the restricted areas significantly hamper operations? How might the Air Force work around new restrictions due to the repository, and how would these work-arounds affect the operations?

While I appreciate the difficulty in answering these questions before all the data has been collected, the impact of the site on training in Nevada must be considered. Thank you for your consideration to my questions, and I thank you for your continued service to our nation.

Sincerely,

Congressman Jim Gibbons (NV-2)

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Las Vegas Review-Journal
June 13, 2003

Yucca Mountain: Studies check flight paths, base training

Opponents of a planned nuclear dump say it will limit military exercises out of Nellis

By Steve Tetreault
Stephens Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Studies are focusing attention on airplane flights near the proposed Nevada nuclear waste repository and whether the facility might threaten military training from Nellis Air Force Base.

A report prepared last summer for the Department of Energy called for further study of aircraft that might fly within 30 miles of Yucca Mountain, including jets on exercises in the Nellis Test and Training Range.

Officials said further analysis could be completed this summer or fall of the potential for an airplane to crash into a facility where the government proposes to handle and bury 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will consider the studies as part of the DOE's license application for a Yucca repository, is boosting its expertise for the report, according to agency memos.

NRC officials have asked that Kazimieras Campe be on their staff for the next year. Campe is an NRC technical specialist who played a role in the agency's decision in March to derail temporarily a Utah nuclear waste storage application because of potential aircraft hazards.

Campe would guide Yucca overflight reviews by NRC staff and specialists at the Texas-based Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analysis, said Janet Schlueter, an NRC official.

"Based on the results of the review, there will be interactions with DOE via telephone and meetings to discuss NRC comments on DOE's work," Schlueter said in a memo obtained Thursday.

DOE officials said they doubt air traffic will prove an obstacle to the repository project.

"Civilian flight routes pass to the southwest and military training areas are generally to the north" of the Yucca portals, spokesman Allen Benson said in an e-mail comment. "Although some military and DOE aircraft can overfly the surface facility area, there are a limited number of such flights."

Some Yucca Mountain Project critics see the matter as a chance to challenge the repository on an issue that has been a background concern.

The 86-page report was provided in October to Nevada and was made public this week.

After reviewing the document, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., on Thursday asked Maj. Gen. Stephen Wood, Nellis Air Warfare Center commander, to outline how a Yucca repository might affect training and military exercises.

Gibbons said he thinks military training cannot co-exist with a nuclear waste repository.

"I have grave concerns that nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain is going to have a dramatic impact on the training that our nation's pilots receive," Gibbons said.

Gibbons, a former Air Force pilot, is among lawmakers working to shield military ranges from urban sprawl and what the Pentagon considers to be restrictive environmental laws. He said flight restrictions tied to Yucca Mountain would set a dangerous precedent for military readiness.

"Our ranges should be expanding and not contracting," he said.

In his letter to Wood, Gibbons said the study made public this week identified specific Nellis training areas as possible hazards to the Yucca site.

"Nobody wants another 'red circle' on the map that pilots want to worry about," he said.

Nevada leaders have expressed concern about potential hazards from Yucca overflights.

In 1987, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., sought Air Force input on having a high-level nuclear waste facility near its gunnery and bombing ranges.

Col. Timothy Titus, a legislative liaison, responded in a letter that Reid inserted into the Congressional Record. Titus said a lack of data prevented the Air Force from identifying the specific effects.

Generally, Titus said, restrictions on any supersonic flights, live munition training, low altitude flying and electronic jamming missions "due to a nuclear waste repository would reduce the utility of the Nellis range."

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Las Vegas SUN
June 12, 2003

Potential plane crashes seen as Yucca threat

By Benjamin Grove
<grove@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas SUN

WASHINGTON -- Airplanes pose a potential danger to Yucca Mountain, according to a newly declassified Energy Department report.

But it's not yet known how significant -- or likely -- the danger is, the report concludes.

At issue in the June 2002 report, "Identification of Aircraft Hazards," is the Yucca ridge 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, which is tucked inside the busy Nellis Air Force Base range, one of the military's top testing and training centers. The report examines the potential hazard of an airplane crashing at Yucca, the proposed repository site for 77,000 tons of the nation's most radioactive nuclear waste. That same concern at least temporarily derailed a plan to store nuclear waste on an Indian reservation in Utah, which sits near the flight path of another Air Force base.

The report, compiled by the department's top Yucca contractor, Bechtel SAIC Co., ultimately concluded that more analysis is needed of planes that fly within 30 miles of Yucca.

The Sun obtained the 86-page report through a Freedom of Information Act request. The Energy Department initially rejected the Sun request, but then declassified the document after further review.

Further analysis of the issue, including crash probabilities, is now under way and NRC officials expect to see it as early as next month, officials said. Further discussions about aircraft hazards between the Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission could follow by September, NRC officials said.

"Clearly this is a relevant issue," said NRC high-level waste branch chief Janet Schlueter. The NRC in the next few years will be responsible for licensing the project.

Still, an Energy Department spokesman said potential plane crashes were not a realistic obstacle to Yucca obtaining an NRC license. That's largely because the number of flights that travel over Yucca -- a specific number is difficult to pin down -- is limited, Yucca project spokesman Allen Benson said. And most of the waste would be stored underground, Benson said.

But Nevada officials say the jet issue could pose a serious obstacle to Yucca, given post-Sept. 11 anxiety, as well as concern about the armed military aircraft that buzz the skies over the desert ridge.

It's a deadly mix to put a waste facility and transportation routes near a busy Air Force base, Gibbons said.

"This is like two trains on the same track heading directly toward each other, and you know what's going to happen," Gibbons said. "It's going to be a disaster."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., also has been quick to note that Yucca logically would face the same licensing hurdles as the Utah site.

"Clearly, there are hazards with the proximity of Yucca Mountain to the training range," Reid said when asked about the Bechtel report this week.

The report surfaced at a time when the federal government is on edge about terrorists targeting U.S. nuclear facilities.

Last month the FBI told local police departments to be alert to terrorists who might use a plane to hit a nuclear power plant. And in February, the Federal Aviation Administration told pilots to avoid the airspace near nuclear plants.

Meanwhile NRC licensing officials say they are taking the aircraft hazard issue seriously.

The agency proved that in March, when it delayed the development of a temporary, above-ground waste storage facility in Utah, for a reason that surprised some observers -- potential crashes of military aircraft. The site, located on Skull Valley Goshute Indian land, is near the Air Force's Utah Test and Training Range.

Nevada officials noted that Yucca, like the Utah project, would for several decades have a sizeable amount of waste on the surface. Waste shipped to Yucca will be sorted and stored temporarily at a handling station before it is moved to underground tunnels.

And there are far more jets -- two to three times as many -- flying in the Nellis ranges around Yucca than are flying near the Utah site, according to one analysis.

Reid said the Energy Department should have completed a full aircraft hazard analysis before President Bush and Congress approved Yucca as the best site to store the nation's most radioactive waste. But DOE spokesman Benson said the analysis wasn't necessary for the site recommendation. If further analysis shows the danger is real, changes can be made to the surface facility design, Benson said.

The Bechtel report grew out of a Yucca hazards analysis conducted in 2000, which first identified aircraft hazards as worthy of further study. In 2001 the NRC and the Energy Department agreed that the department would further study the danger as part of the Yucca licensing process, the NRC's Schlueter said.

The report concludes that flights outside a 30-mile radius pose no "credible hazard" to Yucca. But the report said that more analysis should be done of flights within 30 miles.

It's not clearly stated in the report how many Air Force aircraft fly near Yucca, although maps in the report show at that at least three flight patterns fall within 30 miles of Yucca. Nellis spokesman Mike Estrada was unable to say how many flights per year come within 30 miles of Yucca. But he added that occasionally flights go "right over the top."

Crashes are not uncommon in the Nellis ranges. Two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs collided in December, killing one pilot.

Of most immediate concern to the Air Force is another potential challenge for Yucca managers: The U.S. Air Force for years has stated its objections to waste transportation routes to Yucca that would limit flight space at sprawling Nellis. Yucca is technically Air Force property and the military grants the Energy Department access to Yucca by special permit, which is up for renewal next year.

In a letter sent today to Nellis Air Warfare Center Commander Major Gen. Stephen Wood, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., noted that the Bechtel report identifies a number of specific Nellis ranges that are potential hazards to Yucca.

That could force Nellis to draw a "vast red circle" around Yucca, Gibbons, a former Air Force pilot, wrote. "No one wants another 'red circle' on the map that pilots have to worry about," Gibbons wrote.

The Air Force has not stated a formal objection to the Yucca project. But Pentagon officials, including two Air Force secretaries in the last eight years have filed strong objections to any plans for waste transportation routes crossing under Nellis airspace.

"Any route which traverses the range and is subject to overflight restrictions would severely affect national security by reducing Air Force and Joint training," then-Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall wrote to House Resources Committee Chairman Don Young in September 1995. "Additionally, it would seriously degrade the training of our friends and allies."

The Energy Department has not yet formalized a transportation plan, so the Air Force is still concerned about how the department intends to get 77,000 tons of high-level waste to Yucca, Air Force officials said.

"What we're against is moving highly radioactive waste through our training ranges," Estrada said. "That doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

Marriane Miclat, an Air Force spokeswoman in Washington, this week said she was unable to confirm whether there are ongoing discussions between the Pentagon and Energy Department over Yucca.

Outside the Energy Department study, the issue of aircraft hazards at Yucca has not been carefully examined. Neither of the two leading independent Yucca watchdog groups -- the National Academy of Science's Board on Radioactive Waste, and the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board created by Congress -- have considered the issue, staff directors said.

It's clear the Energy Department has to face some difficult choices about aircraft hazards and Yucca's surface facility design, said Robert Alvarez, one of eight waste experts who in January authored a report on potential terrorist attacks on waste storage areas.

"We're talking about the largest concentration of radioactive material on the planet," Alvarez said. "And a lot of it is going to be on the surface. At least they are raising a little red flag (with the report). But we've got to be thinking about state-of-the-art solutions to guarding against crashes of commercial and military aircraft."

Gibbons suspects the Energy Department is trying to keep the issue of aircraft hazards under wraps because it could hurt Yucca's chances of winning an NRC license.

"The DOE as well as the nuclear energy industry are trying to keep this on the back burner because it highlights a significant hazard. It's going to force them to make decisions they don't want to make."

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Las Vegas SUN
June 13, 2003

Editorial: Crash go the Yucca chariots

Las Vegas SUN

A month before Congress voted to approve Yucca Mountain as the nation's burial site for nuclear waste, the Energy Department's top Yucca contractor prepared a classified report concluding that airplanes pose a potential safety risk at the site. The June 2002 report has finally come to light, as the result of a Freedom of Information request filed by the Las Vegas Sun. The request was initially rejected but released this week into the hands of Benjamin Grove, the Sun's Washington correspondent.

While the report concludes that aircraft are a danger, the degree to which they pose a risk was left for another study. But at least everyone now knows that in addition to the risks on the surface and below ground, there is risk from above. Mainly, the risk arises from the fact that Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is situated within the Nellis Air Force Range. The primary mission of Nellis Air Force Base is training pilots, who often fly with live ordnance. They use the range extensively, including the area of Yucca Mountain. Nellis spokesman Mike Estrada told Grove that planes sometimes go "right over the top" of the mountain.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., a former Air Force pilot who flew missions during the Persian Gulf War, is certain about the danger level. "This is like two trains on the same track heading directly toward each other, and you know what is going to happen. It's going to be a disaster," Gibbons told Grove. The only way to mitigate the danger, Gibbons said, would be for Nellis to draw a "vast red circle" -- a no-fly zone -- around Yucca. This, however, would severely hamper the Nellis mission, which is instrumental to national security.

Even with a no-fly zone, there is no insurance against human error. A crash or misdirected ordnance could strike the waste as it sits on the surface outside the mountain, protected only by casks that are vulnerable in the event of high-impact accidents. And there will always be waste sitting outside the mountain, as trucks or trains delivering the deadly material will outpace the staff's ability to bury it.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has the responsibility of determining Yucca's likelihood of protecting against radioactive contamination for at least the next 10,000 years, acknowledges the seriousness of the mountain's proximity to Nellis. "Clearly this is a relevant issue," a top NRC official told Grove. In our clear view, this is just one more reason, on top of many others just as relevant, to abandon Yucca Mountain. The nation's nuclear plants should continue storing their wastes on site until a correct solution can be found.

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Inyo Register
June 12, 2003

Yucca concerns top meeting

By Robin Flinchum

A meeting scheduled to last two hours went double that time as approximately 25 concerned local residents sought answers to a variety of health and safety questions at the first-ever Nuclear Regulatory Commission presentation in Tecopa on Wednesday.

Questions from the audience addressed the stringency of standards set by the NRC for the Department of Energy in its endeavor to create a nuclear waste repository at nearby Yucca Mountain, as well as safety issues regarding the shipment of nuclear waste along State Route 127, and the monitoring of groundwater that flows down from the mountain toward southeast Inyo County.

The 11-member contingent from the NRC presented a four-part presentation, giving an overview of the agency's role in the upcoming evaluation process after the DOE submits an application, expected to happen in December of 2004, to create and operate the repository.

"Our role is to decide whether the DOE should be authorized to construct the repository," said Janet Schlueter, chief of the NRC's High Level Waste branch of the Division of Waste Management, "and to assure that the right programs and attributes are in place." She pointed out that the NRC at this point did not have many of the answers to the questions posed. "That information will have to be provided by the DOE," she said.

Once an application is submitted by the DOE, she said, it could take the NRC three months to even decide whether or not to accept it. If accepted, the agency then has 3-4 years to evaluate the application and make a decision on whether or not to grant authority.

Another significant issue of concern for local residents is the question of land ownership at Yucca Mountain. Western Shoshone elder and spiritual leader Corbin Harney, whose Poo-Ha-Ba healing center is located in Tecopa, attended the meeting and voiced his opposition to the Yucca Mountain project. "That land belongs to the Shoshone by the treaty of Ruby Valley," Harney pointed out. "How did you get that land, how can you say you own it?"

Schlueter says this is a matter that will have to be resolved through other federal agencies but that the NRC will not grant the DOE permission to go ahead at Yucca Mountain unless it can demonstrate a clear title to the land. Schlueter said ownership of the land would have to be decided before the DOE application even comes before her agency.

Several other members of the audience expressed concern that the Shoshone people were being overlooked in this process. Chet Poslusny, of the Spent Fuel Project Office, said that the NRC had attempted to involve the public and had met with some tribal representatives but Harney said he had not been consulted. Poslusny said all comments would be recorded and evaluated. "We try to do our best to present our info in an open and public fashion and we'll continue to do our best," he noted.

However, since Sept. 11, information about the routes and dates of some nuclear waste transports is no longer released to the public in advance and some of the information about how the Department of Transportation proposes to ensure the safety of local residents is also classified.

Paul Bertetti, with the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analysis, gave a brief overview of the groundwater system around Yucca Mountain and said that the NRC "will assess whether DOE's proposal adequately demonstrates that groundwater is protected." The current proposed plan to evaluate groundwater only to a point of about 12 miles downstream of the site, a cause for concern among local residents dependent upon water below that 12-mile marker, is currently being challenged, said Janet Kotra, with the Division of Waste Management. "As scientists we believe that is sufficient, but if the decision is that our regulations are inadequate, we will make the appropriate changes," she said.

Kalinda Tilges of the Shundahai Network in Las Vegas, an organization "dedicated to breaking the nuclear chain," said she questioned the credibility of many of the current studies and models being used by the DOE and the NRC to evaluate groundwater and potential problems. She said that her research indicated that data in different studies was often conflicting and while the studies may conform to the standards set for them, "following the law and protecting the public seem to be two very different things."

Jennifer Viereck, of the Hummingbird Family Resource Center in Tecopa, said she, too, had to wonder about the credibility of studies done, expressing concerns that most accident or disaster scenarios are based on city models or landscape different than that of the actual routes and repository site. She mentioned flash floods that affect the local groundwater in unexpected ways had not been planned for. Bertetti said the NRC did understand these problems and was doing its best to envision all possible scenarios, including potential changes to the flow of groundwater caused by pumping from the cities of Pahrump or Las Vegas.

Bertetti admitted that there was still much that remained unknown for scientists attempting to predict future conditions in and around Yucca Mountain and to create models for how the groundwater system works and how other conditions might change, including a shift from arid to more tropical climate during the 10,000-year time frame outlined for the sealing of Yucca Mountain. "We're doing our best to create normal conditions and models," he said. "It's complicated."

Local resident Hawk Fann expressed his belief that this kind of prediction was simply impossible. "You don't know what's going to happen 10 years from now, let alone 10,000," he said.

Safety testing standards for future casks designed to carry waste into Yucca Mountain were another topic of discussion. Larry Levy, of the Southern Inyo Fire Protection District, and several others said they felt the tests were inadequate and didn't take into account possible terrorism scenarios or major collisions between two trucks carrying similar loads. The Shundahai Network has released a statement calling for full-scale testing of all proposed cask designs and Schlueter said she thought that would be taking place. Skip Young, from the Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response, assured the attendees that a variety of scenarios were being looked at but that this was not all information that could be readily shared with the public.

While Young said that high-level shipments would be accompanied by armed escorts in front and behind, some expressed concern that this was not enough since on some segments of State Route 127 radio communication availability is sporadic, the area is isolated, and local law enforcement is usually limited to one officer on duty in a large region. Terrorist threats and sabotage were issues that would merit further study, Young said.

When posed a hypothetical scenario by a member of the audience, Young said that a cask could potentially be penetrated by a shoulder-launched weapon. If that happened, he said, "some material will come out and cause a localized problem but not a significant health hazard to the general public." Young said such an event might affect a one-block area. Viereck said that a one-block area is about the size of her entire community in the Tecopa Heights neighborhood.

Schlueter said the NRC made the decision to visit Tecopa on the invitation of the Inyo County Board of Supervisors and the urging of Andrew Remus, the county's Yucca Mountain project assessment coordinator. She said it took some nine months to schedule a time when everyone was available and that, while it was not the most hospitable weather and most of the part-time residents were gone, "we have the people here who are really going to be impacted and we have a chance to listen to them. Their concerns are real. This is their home and their lives."

Residents expressed gratitude for the long trek made by the NRC representatives, many of whom live and work on the East Coast, and appreciation for their willingness to endure the extended meeting. But many said they remained skeptical and wary of the Yucca Mountain project.

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Las Vegas SUN
June 12, 2003

Editorial: Subsidy that should have been stopped

Las Vegas SUN

On Tuesday the Senate voted 50-48, as part of an amendment to an energy bill, to keep intact federal loan guarantees that are intended to spur the construction of new nuclear power plants. The nuclear power industry demonstrated its clout in Washington once again, but at least this time it didn't register the kind of resounding victory it is accustomed to achieving. Even some of the industry's supporters in the Senate couldn't stomach the construction loan guarantees, believing that they weren't warranted.

Nevada's two senators, Democrat Harry Reid and Republican John Ensign, voted against the subsidy. Ensign noted that Congress already subsidizes nuclear power by its approval of a plan to build a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, a facility that Nevada's congressional delegation opposes. No state has been willing to accept the industry's radioactive garbage, so Congress is seeking to force only one state -- Nevada, which doesn't produce any nuclear power -- to accept 77,000 tons of radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. Reid said that the nuclear power industry has had more than three decades to convince Wall Street of its merits: "The truth is Wall Street is not convinced, and until Wall Street is convinced, Congress should stay out of risky financial deals." Democrats contend the government would be liable for $14 billion if the plants default o n their bonds.

The bottom line is that if it wasn't for the federal government's generosity, the nuclear power industry would have succumbed a long time ago. It makes no sense -- economically or environmentally -- to give the nuclear power industry another subsidy.

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State of Nevada
Agency for Nuclear Projects
www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/
nwpo@nuc.state.nv.us
775-687-3744
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