Dire scenarios painted in shipment of waste to Nevada

Thursday, Oct. 14, 1999 | 6:39 a.m.

Clark County officials presented that estimate Wednesday to members of an advisory committee to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission during a hearing on the safety of the proposed repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The NRC would have to license a repository before it is built.

Routes to the proposed repository include Interstate 15, U.S. 95 and the Las Vegas Beltway, which is still under construction. The affected communities include Las Vegas and Mesquite.

What's troubling about that count, county officials told the NRC panel, is that by county calculations, there could be 61 to 107 accidents over the first quarter-century of the repository's life - most of them causing surface contamination. The county used a 1991 DOE study to come up with that estimate.

Accidents could expose children and hospital patients - a population that is particularly vulnerable - to radiation, not to mention tourists at the hotel-casinos along the route, Fred Dilger, a county analyst, said.

"That's just under three a year and the disruption to the area has undetermined effects," he said. While a radioactive accident may not require more than removing a few inches of soil, the county is worried about the public stigma created by such an event.

An estimated 372,579 people could be exposed along the route by the time shipments begin in 2020, according to county estimates.

Although the Energy Department produced a voluminous study on environmental impacts, the information it contained failed to use modern population counts, Engelbrecht von Tiesenhausen of the county's Nuclear Waste Division said.

The DOE used 1990 census data, Dilger said, and estimated only 88,745 people would potentially be exposed along the route. More recent information was available, he said. The Local Emergency Management Planning committee updates affected populations every year.

"Using current population figures is very important to calculate the health risks," Dilger said.

In addition, the DOE is not required to consider special populations such as schools, hospitals and public facilities, Dilger said.

John Garrick, chairman of the regulatory commission's advisory committee, acknowledged that transportation risk assessment is one of the "boogeymen" of measuring possible hazards and dangers to public health and safety.