Nevada to woo other states in Yucca fight

Friday, Nov. 16, 2001 | 9:57 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A Las Vegas firm has been selected to launch a media blitz to convince residents of other states to join Nevada in its fight against a proposed high-level nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain.

Brown and Partners of Las Vegas in the next two years will receive up to $1 million to fund a campaign designed to inform people outside Nevada about the potential dangers of radioactive material that is transported -- by truck or rail -- through their communities.

Bob Loux, executive director of the state Office of Nuclear Projects, told a legislative committee Thursday in Las Vegas that the firm was selected from a field of three that submitted proposals.

The others were F/F/E Associates and the Creative Group, both of Las Vegas.

If Yucca Mountain is selected, Loux said, 3,000 to 4,000 shipments of waste each year will be transported through 43 states and thousands of cities and communities.

"These shipments are virtually unprotected," Loux told the Legislative Committee on High-Level Radioactive Waste, headed by Assemblyman Harry Mortenson, D-Las Vegas. "That's a tremendous amount of targets" for any terrorist attack, Loux said.

The goal of the contract is to persuade residents of other states to petition congressional representatives to vote against possible legislation that designates Yucca Mountain as the repository for 77,000 tons of the nation's waste.

Congress has the final vote on this issue.

The contract for Brown and Partners comes up for final approval before the state Board of Examiners Nov. 20.

In a memo to the board, Loux said the Department of Energy and its allies in Congress "have long recognized that nuclear waste transportation is the Achilles' heel of the Yucca Mountain program.

"Once states and communities along potential shipping routes become aware of the unprecedented volumes of waste to be shipped, the duration of the required shipping campaign, and the potential adverse consequences of accidents and terrorists incidents, opposition to the entire effort can be expected to increase and become extremely vocal throughout the country," he said.

The legislative committee received a briefing from the energy department and Loux on the study of Yucca Mountain. Loux said some members of Congress believe President Bush will make a decision by Feb. 28 whether to select the site as the nation's repository.

It would then go to Congress.

But that could be delayed because of the potential legal fights, as lawsuits could be filed when Interior Secretary Gale Norton makes her recommendation to President Bush and when Bush sends his proposal to Congress. There also could be litigation if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission provides a license to build the project.

Mortenson questioned J. Russell Dyer, project manager for Yucca Mountain, regarding the chances of terrorists striking at the underground burial grounds. Mortenson said the waste would be 800 feet below the ground, with only two entrances.

Dyer replied, "It's hard to conceive how it could be" penetrated. He said there are a "lot of elements" in the system of handling nuclear waste.