Yucca Mountain News Clips
Monday, August 29, 2005
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San Diego Union Tribune
August 29, 2005
San Diego Union Tribune
DOE takes step in plan to ship nuclear waste in Nevada by train
By Ken Ritter
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS – The Energy Department took another step Monday toward building a rail line across Nevada to ship nuclear waste to a national repository at Yucca Mountain.
The department announced it wants to remove a mile-wide, 319-mile long right of way from public use for 10 years and asked for public comment on the plan. Previously DOE had planned to exclude the mostly federal Bureau of Land Management swath known as the Caliente Corridor for 20 years.
The Energy Department announced last month that it intends to use trains for some 3,500 shipments of the nation's most radioactive waste from around the nation to the planned repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Officials with the federal agency and the state's Nuclear Projects Office characterized the release of the project's draft environmental assessment as routine, but state officials called the rail proposal dangerously flawed.
"We think the selection was illegal and violated a number of federal statutes," said Bob Loux, chief of the state Nuclear Projects Office and Gov. Kenny Guinn's top anti-dump administrator.
Energy Department spokesman Allen Benson said notice published Monday in the Federal Register is a step toward protecting 308,600 acres in the corridor from encroachment and surface mining claims. The register notice referred to precluding new mining claims for 20 years on five rail alternatives, but the more detailed environmental document cut that to 10 years.
"We're not sure we need the full 20 years," Benson said of the Caliente route – the only one under study. "All we're getting out of it is the right of way to be able to build the rail line."
The document, part of an application to the BLM and federal Interior Department, refers to 915 existing mining claims and leases along the route, and four natural gas leases nearby.
It also cites the proximity of habitat for the threatened Mojave Desert tortoise and the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher, and notes that a pair of yellow-billed cuckoos has been seen nesting near the route. The bird is a candidate for a federal endangered species designation.
The department said grazing, public access and other current uses of the land would not be affected.
The Energy Department plans to take public comments through Sept. 27, including at meetings Sept. 12 in Amargosa Valley, Sept. 13 in Goldfield and Sept. 15 in Caliente.
The Energy Department also said it was preparing an environmental study about the possible effects of construction, operation and maintenance of alternate rail alignments.
In addition to the train shipments, the Energy Department plans about 1,100 truck shipments to the repository.
The agency estimates it will cost $880 million to establish a rail head on the Union Pacific line at Caliente, a small town 150 miles northeast of Las Vegas, and build the rail line to the Yucca Mountain site.
Arguments are scheduled Oct. 18 in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on a state request to halt planning for the rail line until more studies are done.
Yucca Mountain is planned as a national repository for 77,000 tons of nuclear waste from sites in 39 states. Funding shortages and other problems – including a controversy over possible paperwork fraud on the project – have delayed the opening date, now estimated for 2012 or later.
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Las Vegas SUN
August 29, 2005
Public land sought for nuke rail study
By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department wants to lock up more than 300,000 acres of public land from mining or drilling for 10 years, as part of its plan for a new rail line to move nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain.
No major environmental or economic impacts would result from the land withdrawal, according to a draft environmental assessment published today in the Federal Register.
Grazing permits, public access and other current uses of the land would not be affected, according to the department. The proposed withdrawal affects land in Esmeralda, Lincoln and Nye counties.
In December 2003, the department asked the Bureau of Land Management to withdraw 308,600 acres of public land from new surface entries and new mining claims for 20 years so it could study the land for the construction and maintenance of a rail line to the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The withdrawal has temporarily been in place since then, allowing the department to study the land.
The rail line would not take up all the land but run somewhere through it. The withdrawal encompasses a milewide corridor running along the possible route.
According to today's assessment, the department said a 10-year withdrawal would allow enough time to conduct "all the necessary activities."
Yucca Mountain Project spokesman Allen Benson said the assessment is a step toward getting a right-of-way from the BLM to build the rail line.
The department expects to release a separate draft environmental impact statement for building the rail line to Yucca next year that will contain the exact location within the 308,600 acres the new railroad tracks would go.
The draft environmental impact statement would go through a public comment period. The department will evaluate the comments and make any changes as needed. Once the final statement is complete, the department will move to begin construction. Benson said most of the land would be relinquished once the final route was selected, although he did not give a specific timeline.
The department wants to open Yucca by 2012.
The department considered shorter time frames, but said "any amount of time under 10 years may not provide the Department adequate time to conduct activities, given the various uncertainties the program currently faces."
The department will take public comments on the assessment through Sept. 27.
Benson said a public comment period is not required for this type of withdrawal. The department would only need to notify the governor but instead went "way beyond" what is required to allow the public to be involved.
The Energy Department's Draft Environmental Assessment on the rail corridor land can be found at www.ocrwm.doe.gov. Copies are also available at the Las Vegas Yucca Mountain Information Center, 4101-B Meadows Lane in Las Vegas. Public Hearing Schedule:
Monday, Sept. 12, 4 to 8 p.m., Longstreet Inn & Casino, Highway 373, Amargosa Valley
Tuesday, Sept. 13, 4 to 8 p.m., Goldfield School Gymnasium, 233 Ra Ave ., Goldfield
Thursday, Sept. 15, 4 to 8 p.m., Caliente Youth Center, .S. Highway 93, Caliente
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KESQ
August 29, 2005
DOE takes step in plan to ship nuclear waste in Nevada by train
LAS VEGAS The Energy Department is taking another step toward building a rail line across Nevada to ship nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain.
The department says today it wants to remove a one-mile wide, 319-mile long right of way from public use for TEN years.
It also said it'll take public comment on the plan until September 27th.
Previously, the D-O-E planned to exclude the swath known as the Caliente Corridor from public use for 20 years.
The D-O-E announced last month that it intends to use trains to move the nation's most radioactive waste from around the nation to the planned Yucca repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The draft study refers to 915 existing mining claims and leases along the route, and four natural gas leases nearby.
It also cites the proximity of habitat for the threatened Mojave Desert tortoise and the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher.
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Chemical & Engineering
August 29, 2005
Shipping Waste
Nevada senators challenge DOE plan for nuclear waste train service
Glenn Hess
Nevada's senators are objecting to a Department of Energy plan to use dedicated train service to transport spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste to the proposed Yucca Mountain repository.
In an Aug. 17 letter to Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman, Sens. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) charge that the plan "is riddled with gaps and inconsistencies and provides no sound justification or support for its conclusions."
Last month, DOE said trains hauling nuclear fuel from commercial reactors and radioactive waste from government sites to Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, would carry no other freight. Previously, the department had envisioned using general freight service for rail shipments.
"While we don't believe the proposed Yucca Mountain repository will ever open, we're also not going to let DOE get away with misleading the public into thinking there is any way to safely transport 70,000 tons of nuclear waste over thousands of miles and through hundreds of communities," Reid and Ensign write.
The senators asked DOE to explain how it plans to ship waste by train when one-third of the 72 reactor sites around the country where spent fuel is stored have no rail access. Consequently, trucks and barges might have to be used. "Will dedicated train service be used at these 24 sites? If so, please provide DOE's plans and timeline for providing the necessary infrastructure."
A DOE spokesman says the department is reviewing the letter. "We remain committed to opening Yucca Mountain using the best science and technology available to ensure the safety and health of all citizens," the official says. The repository is being developed for the permanent disposal of radioactive waste generated by nuclear power plants and defense-related activities.
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Indian Country Today
August 29, 2005
United Nations calls for U.S. accountability
Brenda Norrell
Indian Country Today
GENEVA - A United Nations committee on racial discrimination has asked the United States to respond to the Western Shoshone appeal for urgent intervention, regarding the attack on their spiritual and cultural areas by the United States and mining corporations.
Mario Yutzis, chairman of the U.N. Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, issued a formal letter to the United States and questioned why Western Shoshone sacred land and treaty rights are not being honored.
The committee pressed the United States for an explanation of expanded mining and nuclear waste storage on Western Shoshone ancestral land, and for ''placing their land up for auction for privatization.''
Further, the committee questioned whether the Treaty of Ruby Valley of 1863 has been abrogated and the imposition of grazing fees, trespass and collection notices, horse and livestock impoundments and restrictions on hunting and fishing.
Western Shoshone said their lands cover approximately 60 million acres stretching across what is now referred to as the states of Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California. The United States claims about 90 percent of the land base is ''public'' or federally controlled lands.
Western Shoshone challenge the United States' assertion of ownership, stating that there has never been a legally valid transfer, sale or cession of land by the Western Shoshone.
The United States was asked to report to the U.N. committee on the arrests of Western Shoshone while using lands claimed as their ancestral lands. Further, the United States was asked how it deals with sacred lands and whether it ensures effective participation by indigenous communities in decisions affecting them.
The United States was asked to provide an explanation of the approval of expanded mining activities in the Mt. Tenabo area in Crescent Valley and the approval to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.
''Both areas are of spiritual and cultural importance to the Western Shoshone and are sites where local creation stories originate,'' a Western Shoshone delegation, in Geneva Aug. 8 - 20, said in a statement.
Western Shoshone said the appeal for urgent intervention was taken to prevent further escalation of federal assaults on Western Shoshone people and their ancestral lands. The delegation was and presented the requests.
Chief Raymond Yowell of the Western Shoshone National Council was encouraged by the U.N. response.
''We are pleased that the United Nations committee is willing to look into this. We encourage the U.S. to respond in an honorable manner and to begin to work toward a solution on this long standing matter - for the benefit of all concerned.''
In the August letter, the U.N. committee noted with concern the allegation that Western Shoshone are being denied their traditional rights to land. Further, the committee questioned whether the subsequent use and occupation of these lands by others would cumulatively lead to irreparable harm:
''The committee, in particular, has received information concerning reinvigorated federal efforts to open a nationwide nuclear waste repository on Western Shoshone land; passage of controversial legislation allowing for distribution of compensation for the alleged extinguishment of Western Shoshone title over land; alleged legislative efforts to privatize Western Shoshone lands for transfer to multinational extractive industries and energy developers; and alleged seizures of Western Shoshone livestock and imposition of heavy trespass fines against Western Shoshone people.''
Further, the committee questioned the United States' assertion that the Western Shoshone people lost their rights to their ancestral lands, as identified in the 1863 treaty, as a result of ''gradual encroachment'' by non-American Indians.
The committee asked whether this violated the right of everyone, without discrimination, to own property alone as well as in association with others.
Another issue raised was whether Western Shoshone were involved and informed of the U.S. Indian Claim Commission decision regarding their ancestral lands.
The United States was asked for its response to Western Shoshone protests over compensation in the 2004 Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act and whether the act was fair and adequate.
Another question raised concerned Western Shoshone's access to the judicial process to assert title to their land.
The committee's letter was issued on the final day of its 67th session, Aug. 19, after a private meeting with representatives from the United States. The United States was informed that the questions presented were based on the request from the Western Shoshone National Council, and by the Western people of the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe, Winnemucca Indian Colony and Yomba Shoshone Tribe.
In the letter, Yutzis said the committee appreciates the frank and open preliminary discussion, which took place Aug. 8 between representatives of the United States and the committee's Working Group on Early Warning and Urgent Action Procedure.
According to Yutzis, the United States assured the committee that reports on Western Shoshone issues, now far behind schedule (they were due in November 2003), are currently being prepared. However, the committee said it regrets that the United States has not agreed to submit the reports by a specific date.
The committee asked for a response to the questions by Dec. 31 for further examination at its next session, beginning Feb. 20, 2006 in Geneva.
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York Daily Record
August 28, 2005
Security upgrade planned for reactors
More officers could be hired to guard next generation of power plants
SEAN ADKINS
Daily Record/Sunday News
The nation´s new generation of nuclear reactors will likely include thicker walls and may be built underground to offer more protection from potential airborne threats, according to one industry expert.
“What was not envisioned was what we saw on 9/11,’ said David Lochbaum, a nuclear power expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “Suicide bombers were not thought of when the first plants were built. That´s not the case now.’
In late September, NuStart Energy Development LLC will file with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission two applications for two combined construction and operating licenses. The NRC requires those approved permits to break ground and operate a nuclear reactor.
NuStart Energy will identify two existing power plants to house each of the new reactors.
Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby, Md., is one of six sites under review by NuStart Energy to possibly land a roughly $2 billion reactor.
NuStart Energy´s application to the NRC will include a detailed section on security enhancements designed to protect the new reactor from potential external and internal sabotage.
Security measures listed to protect the new reactors meet all the upgraded criteria required by the NRC.
Dick Dubiel said the chances of someone or something being able to breach a 3-foot thick concrete containment wall, the current protective curtain that surrounds a reactor, is slim.
Dubiel is a co-owner of Woodstock, Ga.-based Millennium Services Inc., a consulting firm that specializes in the decommissioning of nuclear power plants.
“I could envision someone driving into a plant and blowing up a transformer,’ he said. “But that would only cause some power loss.’
Much like its existing counterparts, new reactors would be built with spent-fuel pools equipped with racks that resemble the utensil holders in dishwashing machine.
Those racks would store the reactor´s stockpile of 12-foot depleted uranium rods.
Chances are the pools built alongside new reactors would be larger than those at current plants, Lochbaum said.
In the past, pools were designed with the industry belief that a permanent repository — such as that proposed for Yucca Mountain in Nevada — would already have been in place, he said. Now, with NRC approval of Yucca Mountain still uncertain, nuclear plant engineers have decided to enlarge a reactor´s pool so that more waste may be stored on site.
Dubiel said he does not believe that someone would be able to steal spent fuel from a nuclear reactor, old or new, without alerting security. Large equipment and robust measures designed to protect a person from radiation contamination would be needed for such an act, he said.
“I don´t see nuke plants as a security risk to outside environment,’ Dubiel said. “And certainly not to a terrorist who wants to steal spent fuel.’
Private security firms, such as Wackenhut Nuclear Services, would most likely hire additional officers to guard the new reactors — the earliest of which could be operational by 2014.
Wackenhut officers guard both Three Mile Island in Dauphin County and Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.
“New nuclear reactors are the right way to go,’ said Shawn Kirven, vice president of nuclear operations for Wackenhut Nuclear Services. “We will be looking to provide our services.’
Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the commission established new ground rules for nuclear plant security.
Many existing plants now have in place 25-foot guard towers equipped with gun portholes and have installed “delay fencing’ designed to create greater standoff distances from a plant. Delay fencing is a combination of regular fencing, razor wire and concrete barricades that circle the protected area of the plant.
That area includes the reactors.
Kirven said his understanding is that the new reactors would require the same number of officers as existing sites.
Marilyn Kray, president of NuStart Energy and a vice president at Exelon Generation in Philadelphia, said the design of the new reactors would most likely call for a smaller footprint, or property size. In that case, fewer guards might be called to protect the reactor.
“A smaller piece of property might not need as many officers,’ Kirven said.Reach Sean Adkins at 771-2047 or sadkins@ydr.com.
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Taipei Times
August 27, 2005
Lawmakers go on nuclear waste tour at Nevada facility
CNA
LOS ANGELES
A group of Taiwanese legislators paid a visit to a permanent nuclear waste storage facility in Nevada Thursday in an effort to collect tips on handling radioactive waste.
Accompanied by officials from the US Department of Energy, the lawmakers, headed by Legislator Chiu Yung-jen (???) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), spent several hours touring the Yucca Mountain Repository, located about 160km northwest of Las Vegas, and being briefed by the facility's authorities.
According to these authorities, the nuclear waste dump is built in an area not only far from densely populated cities but also an area where geological conditions is stable, making it suitable for storage of hazardous materials.
So far, they said, the Department of Energy has spent US$8 billion developing the underground dump, which is planned to be fully completed in 10 years. After it is finished, the Yucca Mountain Repository will be used to store all nuclear reactors and radioactive waste that is currently stored in 131 smaller facilities scattered across the US. It is estimated that it will remain safe for 10,000 years.
Nuclear power plants provide about 20 percent of the electricity used in the US.
Chiu said the visit by the legislators, all members of the Legislative Yuan's Science and Information Technology Committee, is aimed at emulating the US experience and working out a policy that will solve Taiwan's nuclear waste problems once and for all.
State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) has in recent years prepared to remove over 97,000 barrels of low-level radioactive waste from Lanyu (??), which lies off the southeastern Taiwan coast, as the lease on its storage site has expired.
The waste, produced by Taipower's three nuclear power plants over 20 years, is scheduled to be inspected and repacked by the end of 2010.
Taipower has contacted authorities from home and abroad for the treatment and disposal of its nuclear waste over the past several years, including Russia, North Korea and Taiwan's outlying islet of Wuchiu.
After the visit to Yucca Mountain, Chiu and his group proceeded to the Hoover Dam, also in Nevada, to see whether Taiwan can borrow any ideas from the dam that can help Taiwan streamline water conservation and related efforts.
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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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