New Uses Planned for Idle Land at Nevada Test Site

Thursday, Oct. 31, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

The federally funded Nevada Test Site Development Corp. is considering using the site for the development of clean-burning fuels, decontamination of low-level nuclear waste and the training of emergency workers to deal with weapons of mass destruction.

The test site's board agreed at a meeting Tuesday to pursue those three options.

"We think there's opportunity in developing Southern Nevada as a center for alternative fuels," said Ken Partain, president of the Center for Sustainable Technologies. "In that, we see hydrogen (fuel) as a key part of the process."

The Center for Sustainable Technology is working with a Reno-based company, energy consultant Arthur D. Little and the University of Nevada to develop vehicles that run on a clean-burning fuel consisting of hydrogen and natural gas.

Testing has shown the hydrogen-burning engines produce 50 to 70 percent fewer emissions than standard engines, Partain said.

NRG Technologies Inc., which developed the engines, has confined much of its testing to the laboratory. The company and its partners hope to use the test site's fleet of some 3,000 vehicles and its grounds to test their technology in a more realistic setting.

They also hope to use the site as a base to see if there is a consumer market for hydrogen-driven vehicles.

The Nevada Test Site Development Corp. board, which consists of 57 business and civic leaders, did not vote immediately to allocate any money for the hydrogen project, but only to pursue involvement.

The board voted to spend $150,000 during the next four months to study the feasibility of establishing a statewide training center at the test site to prepare emergency workers to respond to nuclear, chemical or biological weapons attacks.

A new federal law calls for the establishment of a national center to train workers to respond to weapons of mass destruction.

Corporation officials said they hoped the test site would be a likely candidate for designation as the national training center, making it eligible for federal funding.

Tim Carlson, president of the Test Site Development Corp., said there are test site facilities that could be used to simulate attacks on both urban and suburban settings.

The board also voted to begin negotiations to lease facilities to Fluid Tech Inc. of Las Vegas. Fluid Tech plans a facility, to employ about 50 people, that will clean up machinery contaminated with low levels of radioactive waste.

The contaminated materials handled by Fluid Tech typically have such low levels of radioactive waste that they can be shipped without any special packaging or marking under Department of Transportation regulations, according to a corporation report.

The company approached Test Site officials about establishing their facilities after local opposition prevented them from setting up an operation in the sparsely populated Amargosa Valley.