Battle looming over nuke transport routes

Adrienne Packer

Tuesday, April 20, 1999 | 11 a.m.

Leaky trucks carrying low-level nuclear waste that pulled into the Nevada Test Site in 1997 caused Clark County residents and politicians to question the federal government's ability to safely transport the materials.

And the level of distrust hasn't waned in the past two years.

Clark County commissioners and Henderson City Manager Phil Speight made it clear Monday that they plan to fight transport routes chosen by carriers of nuclear waste from Fernald, Ohio.

Both entities intend to submit resolutions opposing the recently announced routes to the federal government by next week. Whether the local governments' stand will affect final decisions is unknown since the transportation of nuclear waste is an issue between state and federal officials.

"We are frustrated; we're frustrated because federal law allows them to supersede us," said Clark County Commissioner Myrna Williams, who added that the resolution will back congressional objections. Shipments of the waste to the Nevada Test Site were stopped 16 months ago because of leaks, but they are scheduled to resume any day.

Speight said he is "gravely concerned" because the Department of Energy is not required to inform local governments about which of the proposed routes truck drivers will use or what time the five shipments a week will arrive.

What local government officials do know is the routes through Clark County include dangerous roads and cut through densely populated areas.

Clark County Commission Chairman Bruce Woodbury credited the DOE for informally agreeing not to use treacherous routes over Hoover Dam or through the Spaghetti Bowl, but said he also is concerned about State Route 160 -- Blue Diamond Road.

The two-lane road, which links Las Vegas to Pahrump, is commonly referred to as the "widow maker;" three of the 77 accidents that have occurred on the route during the last year were fatal.

The number of cars that use the Interstate 15-Blue Diamond Road interchange every day has increased from 2,340 cars to more than 6,000 in just 10 years, Woodbury said. A road-widening project will only make it more dangerous for transport trucks, he said.

Blue Diamond Road is listed on two of the listed preferred routes. DOE officials have said repeatedly they do not determine the routes; the carriers include the roads they plan to take in their bids for contracts with Fernald.

"The shippers have the authority to choose the routes," said Michael Jacob, a DOE spokesman in Fernald. He emphasized that the DOE is trying to ship Cold War radioactive waste in the most efficient and least expensive way for taxpayers.

The Nevada Highway Patrol has conducted its study and presented two routes it would support. One uses Interstate 15 from Baker, Calif., to State Route 127 to Nevada State Route 373 to U.S. 95 to the Test Site. The other uses State Route 319 from Cedar City, Utah, to U.S. 93 to U.S. 6 to Tonopah to the site.

County officials refuse to list routes they would support fearing that if property values along that course decrease, the county could be liable.

Williams, however, has for years urged the DOE to haul the waste by rail to Caliente and truck it into the Nevada Test Site using a route that skirts the north side of the property.

Williams said Monday that Caliente officials have already approved an intermodel station that would allow the rail-to-truck transfer. She said the facility should be completed in five months.

"What we don't understand is why they can't wait," Williams said.

The county's nuclear waste transportation planners said not only is rail transportation less expensive than using trucks, but it is ideal because the shipments do not have deadlines and rail cars can carry larger loads.

Planning Manager Dennis Bechtel said the number of trips would be reduced by 50 percent.

DOE spokesman Darwin Morgan said the department has been working with residents in Nye, Lincoln and Esmeralda counties to ensure that they have the proper equipment and training in case there is an accident. Morgan said putting a response program in place will take time. Bechtel said the DOE must be able to prove that the routes it chooses pose a minimal risk. If the federal government allows nuclear waste shipments on roads that traverse the county, Bechtel said he will ask that certain conditions are placed on drivers and that the DOE provides resources to allow rural communities to respond to any emergencies.

"The problem is DOE doesn't have a good fix on what happens when the transport leaves the door," said Bechtel, who is trying to develop a program that would address routes nationwide.

"To think that things can't happen is very foolish," Williams added. "The law of averages says things can and will happen."

Sun reporter Mary Manning contributed to this report.