Rural governments oppose nuke waste transport on public roads

Thursday, March 11, 1999 | 2:47 a.m.

The resolutions were largely symbolic protests against a House bill that would authorize the shipment of 77,000 tons of high level nuclear waste through 43 states to the Nevada Test Site.

The bill, H.R. 45, would allow for interim storage at the test site until Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is approved. Yucca Mountain is the only site being studied as a permanent repository for 77,000 tons of radioactive waste now collecting at nuclear power plants across the country. President Clinton has promised to veto bills designating Nevada as the nationwide repository for nuclear waste.

"If this bill passes, then we're all pretty much in trouble," said Tammy Manzini, who monitors the Yucca Mountain project for Lander County. "They could ship the nuclear waste through all states and counties."

H.R. 45 was introduced Jan. 6. The House Resources Committee postponed action on the resolution Feb. 23, with Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., requesting a delay.

The Eureka resolution said that "transportation of high-level nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel on federal, state or county highways and through the communities ... is significantly less safe than rail transport and is therefore unacceptable."

However, Eureka County Commission Chairman Pete Goicoechea said he would support a rail line if it linked to rail lines at its north and south ends and were available for public use.

The DOE has proposed a rail route from the Union Pacific tracks at Beowawe through Crescent Valley and Austin. A link is also proposed to rail lines south of Yucca Mountain at Yermo, Calif., near Barstow.

"If there is any transport of nuclear waste, it probably will be by rail," Goicoechea said.

The resolutions were passed by Eureka County officials on Friday and Lander County on Monday. Commissioners in Nye County are scheduled to consider a similar resolution March 16.

No final decision on whether Yucca Mountain will be used as a permanent dump will be made until 2001, after further research and a formal environmental impact review. Already, $2.2 billion has been spent on the project, which is estimated to cost more than $18 billion to build and operate.