Yucca to cost county $2.5 billion

Stephen Curran

Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2005 | 9:32 a.m.

A proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain is likely to cost Clark County roughly $2.5 billion in added fire, police and emergency expenses, according to a report that was expected to come before the commission this morning.

That figure, an estimate spread out over the Energy Department's planned 24-year shipment schedule, covers what officials from the county's Nuclear Waste Division say will be necessary for added security for Clark County, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Mesquite, the county's nuclear planning manager Irene Navis said.

It's the most recent study of the impact of the proposed 319-mile rail line that would carve its way through Lincoln and Nye counties before ending at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The previous review, which examined only all-truck shipments, was conducted in 2002, Navis said.

The steep costs include possible impacts to public safety agencies, including fire police and emergency management, which would be tapped to protect "the health, safety and welfare of (Clark County) citizens in the event of an emergency," according to a draft version of the report.

This latest study takes into consideration truck and rail shipments. Rail shipments are the Energy Department's preferred option.

The Yucca-associated costs amount to what county officials are calling an unfunded mandate that would shift a burden to the local government for safety near the corridor, which would see up to 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste.

"It means Nevada taxpayers would end up paying the brunt of it," Commissioner Myrna Williams, an outspoken Yucca opponent who has sat on the state's Nuclear Waste Projects Commission for the past 12 years, said this morning. "It's ridiculous."

Commission Chairman Rory Reid said the costs from shipping waste from power plants scattered throughout the country would create an unfair burden on the county that could mean cutbacks in other services funded out of its roughly $1 billion general fund budget each year.

"There are nuclear power plants all over the country that generate power for other people and we're being asked to take out their garbage," Reid said. "It's not fair."

The total costs to all jurisdictions in Clark County skyrockets to more than $3.7 billion, with the city of Las Vegas' $562 million share over 24 years coming in second to the county, according to the report.

While spread out over almost two and a half decades, each entity will begin to see a financial burden within the next 10 years as the potential nuclear waste dump is expected to reach completion. Clark County, which is expected to shoulder the largest cost, is expected to see a $291 million public safety spike in the project's first year, according to the report.

The commission, which is expected to maintain its steadfast stance against Yucca Mountain, has no plans to negotiate for federal assistance with those costs, Reid said.

"I don't think we have the best relationship with the DOE (Energy Department) right now," he said.