Says Yucca project would draw 10 shipments a day

Friday, July 30, 1999 | 3:13 a.m.

A state official says a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain could draw as many as 10 shipments of radioactive waste a day through Southern Nevada, rather than the three forecast by the Energy Department.

The state's estimate forecasts three to seven truck shipments, one to two heavy haul loads and one rail cask a day for 30 years until a proposed repository is filled.

There is no railroad track to Yucca Mountain. The heavy haulers would transfer shipments from trains at a remote site that has not been determined.

If the state is able to restrict shippers to certain days and times, the number of loads could increase each day.

However, no one will know the exact number of shipments for years, Nevada transportation consultant Robert Halstead said Thursday night. The DOE first has to determine if Yucca Mountain is safe and then decide on the transportation routes.

And the answers will not appear in a draft environmental impact statement being prepared by the DOE.

"The draft environmental impact statement may not help state and local officials to determine alternate routes to avoid dangerous two-lane rural roads and congested urban areas," Halstead said.

Clark County has had little chance to contribute to the DOE's draft statement, Nuclear Waste Division Director Dennis Bechtel said. That worries county officials, because they cannot plan for social and economic impacts.