Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Potential plane crashes seen as Yucca threat

WASHINGTON -- Airplanes pose a potential danger to Yucca Mountain, according to a newly declassified Energy Department report.

But it's not yet known how significant -- or likely -- the danger is, the report concludes.

At issue in the June 2002 report, "Identification of Aircraft Hazards," is the Yucca ridge 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, which is tucked inside the busy Nellis Air Force Base range, one of the military's top testing and training centers. The report examines the potential hazard of an airplane crashing at Yucca, the proposed repository site for 77,000 tons of the nation's most radioactive nuclear waste. That same concern at least temporarily derailed a plan to store nuclear waste on an Indian reservation in Utah, which sits near the flight path of another Air Force base.

The report, compiled by the department's top Yucca contractor, Bechtel SAIC Co., ultimately concluded that more analysis is needed of planes that fly within 30 miles of Yucca.

The Sun obtained the 86-page report through a Freedom of Information Act request. The Energy Department initially rejected the Sun request, but then declassified the document after further review.

Further analysis of the issue, including crash probabilities, is now under way and NRC officials expect to see it as early as next month, officials said. Further discussions about aircraft hazards between the Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission could follow by September, NRC officials said.

"Clearly this is a relevant issue," said NRC high-level waste branch chief Janet Schlueter. The NRC in the next few years will be responsible for licensing the project.

Still, an Energy Department spokesman said potential plane crashes were not a realistic obstacle to Yucca obtaining an NRC license. That's largely because the number of flights that travel over Yucca -- a specific number is difficult to pin down -- is limited, Yucca project spokesman Allen Benson said. And most of the waste would be stored underground, Benson said.

But Nevada officials say the jet issue could pose a serious obstacle to Yucca, given post-Sept. 11 anxiety, as well as concern about the armed military aircraft that buzz the skies over the desert ridge.

It's a deadly mix to put a waste facility and transportation routes near a busy Air Force base, Gibbons said.

"This is like two trains on the same track heading directly toward each other, and you know what's going to happen," Gibbons said. "It's going to be a disaster."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., also has been quick to note that Yucca logically would face the same licensing hurdles as the Utah site.

"Clearly, there are hazards with the proximity of Yucca Mountain to the training range," Reid said when asked about the Bechtel report this week.

The report surfaced at a time when the federal government is on edge about terrorists targeting U.S. nuclear facilities.

Last month the FBI told local police departments to be alert to terrorists who might use a plane to hit a nuclear power plant. And in February, the Federal Aviation Administration told pilots to avoid the airspace near nuclear plants.

Meanwhile NRC licensing officials say they are taking the aircraft hazard issue seriously.

The agency proved that in March, when it delayed the development of a temporary, above-ground waste storage facility in Utah, for a reason that surprised some observers -- potential crashes of military aircraft. The site, located on Skull Valley Goshute Indian land, is near the Air Force's Utah Test and Training Range.

Nevada officials noted that Yucca, like the Utah project, would for several decades have a sizeable amount of waste on the surface. Waste shipped to Yucca will be sorted and stored temporarily at a handling station before it is moved to underground tunnels.

And there are far more jets -- two to three times as many -- flying in the Nellis ranges around Yucca than are flying near the Utah site, according to one analysis.

Reid said the Energy Department should have completed a full aircraft hazard analysis before President Bush and Congress approved Yucca as the best site to store the nation's most radioactive waste. But DOE spokesman Benson said the analysis wasn't necessary for the site recommendation. If further analysis shows the danger is real, changes can be made to the surface facility design, Benson said.

The Bechtel report grew out of a Yucca hazards analysis conducted in 2000, which first identified aircraft hazards as worthy of further study. In 2001 the NRC and the Energy Department agreed that the department would further study the danger as part of the Yucca licensing process, the NRC's Schlueter said.

The report concludes that flights outside a 30-mile radius pose no "credible hazard" to Yucca. But the report said that more analysis should be done of flights within 30 miles.

It's not clearly stated in the report how many Air Force aircraft fly near Yucca, although maps in the report show at that at least three flight patterns fall within 30 miles of Yucca. Nellis spokesman Mike Estrada was unable to say how many flights per year come within 30 miles of Yucca. But he added that occasionally flights go "right over the top."

Crashes are not uncommon in the Nellis ranges. Two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs collided in December, killing one pilot.

Of most immediate concern to the Air Force is another potential challenge for Yucca managers: The U.S. Air Force for years has stated its objections to waste transportation routes to Yucca that would limit flight space at sprawling Nellis. Yucca is technically Air Force property and the military grants the Energy Department access to Yucca by special permit, which is up for renewal next year.

In a letter sent today to Nellis Air Warfare Center Commander Major Gen. Stephen Wood, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., noted that the Bechtel report identifies a number of specific Nellis ranges that are potential hazards to Yucca.

That could force Nellis to draw a "vast red circle" around Yucca, Gibbons, a former Air Force pilot, wrote. "No one wants another 'red circle' on the map that pilots have to worry about," Gibbons wrote.

The Air Force has not stated a formal objection to the Yucca project. But Pentagon officials, including two Air Force secretaries in the last eight years have filed strong objections to any plans for waste transportation routes crossing under Nellis airspace.

"Any route which traverses the range and is subject to overflight restrictions would severely affect national security by reducing Air Force and Joint training," then-Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall wrote to House Resources Committee Chairman Don Young in September 1995. "Additionally, it would seriously degrade the training of our friends and allies."

The Energy Department has not yet formalized a transportation plan, so the Air Force is still concerned about how the department intends to get 77,000 tons of high-level waste to Yucca, Air Force officials said.

"What we're against is moving highly radioactive waste through our training ranges," Estrada said. "That doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

Marriane Miclat, an Air Force spokeswoman in Washington, this week said she was unable to confirm whether there are ongoing discussions between the Pentagon and Energy Department over Yucca.

Outside the Energy Department study, the issue of aircraft hazards at Yucca has not been carefully examined. Neither of the two leading independent Yucca watchdog groups -- the National Academy of Science's Board on Radioactive Waste, and the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board created by Congress -- have considered the issue, staff directors said.

It's clear the Energy Department has to face some difficult choices about aircraft hazards and Yucca's surface facility design, said Robert Alvarez, one of eight waste experts who in January authored a report on potential terrorist attacks on waste storage areas.

"We're talking about the largest concentration of radioactive material on the planet," Alvarez said. "And a lot of it is going to be on the surface. At least they are raising a little red flag (with the report). But we've got to be thinking about state-of-the-art solutions to guarding against crashes of commercial and military aircraft."

Gibbons suspects the Energy Department is trying to keep the issue of aircraft hazards under wraps because it could hurt Yucca's chances of winning an NRC license.

"The DOE as well as the nuclear energy industry are trying to keep this on the back burner because it highlights a significant hazard. It's going to force them to make decisions they don't want to make."

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