List says Vegas ought to get maglev train as reward for Yucca

Wednesday, April 24, 2002 | 11:06 a.m.

MINDEN -- Former Gov. Bob List said today the federal government ought to select Las Vegas as the site to build a maglev train as one reward for Yucca Mountain being designated as a nuclear waste dump.

List told about 100 people attending a breakfast meeting of the Northern Nevada Development Authority that the repository could bring enormous benefits to the state that is now strapped for money for education and social services.

"It could be our answer for the next millennium," he said to the sympathetic audience.

After his talk, he asked the crowd how many would like the dump in Nevada. About 20 to 25 raised their hands. About 80 people signaled they thought the dump was inevitable. All raised their hands when asked if Nevada should be compensated.

List said Las Vegas ought to be selected over Baltimore and Pittsburgh, the other two finalists, for the high-speed maglev train, which would connect Clark County with Southern California. He said that would be in recognition for Nevada accepting the responsibility for 77,000 tons of the nation's most radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain.

The former governor, now a lobbyist for the nuclear industry, said many of the fears being expressed have been exaggerated.

He said shipments by rail or truck "probably would not come through the Las Vegas Valley." In addition, he said, the shipments would probably be diverted north of Reno through the Feather River Canyon and Gerlach on railroad cars.

Gov. Kenny Guinn has the authority to designate the routes the waste will travel in Nevada, List said. "I doubt Gov. Guinn would designate that route" that could carry the waste through the Las Vegas area.

Many people, he said, believe the truck shipments would come through the Spaghetti Bowl in downtown Las Vegas and would explode in an accident.

Spent nuclear fuel, he said, doesn't burn, it doesn't explode and it doesn't leak. He said if an accident occurred, the crews would pick up the radioactive pellets and put them back in the containers.

The waste would be "far easier to manage," than the present shipments of liquid chemicals or hazardous materials that are travel the highways.

He said opponents of the dump site are also exaggerating the amount of shipments to Yucca Mountain. There would be 45 trucks a year and 135 trains.

The 77,000 tons of waste would cover Douglas County High School football field two feet deep, he said.

There has not been one accident in past years involving the 3,000 shipments of nuclear waste over millions of miles in the United States, he said.

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