Reid, Ensign question plans for nuke trains

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Aug. 19, 2005 | 10:55 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada's senators are demanding that the Energy Department more fully explain its plan to use nuclear waste-only freight trains to haul the radioactive material to Yucca Mountain.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., slam the department for "gaps and inconsistencies" in its newly announced plan to use what are often called "dedicated" trains -- trains that contain only one kind of cargo: highly radioactive waste.

"Like all things Yucca, the conclusions in this policy statement are seemingly pulled from thin air," the senators said in a joint statement released Thursday.

The Energy Department has not yet received the letter, a spokesman said Thursday. He declined to answer questions posed in the letter.

"We remain committed to opening Yucca Mountain using the best science and technology available to ensure the safety and health of all citizens," spokesman Craig Stevens said.

The Energy Department for years has said it would rely mainly on trains, as opposed to trucks, to haul 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel from the nation's nuclear power reactors to a proposed underground nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

On July 18, the department further refined the plan, announcing it would use dedicated trains, as opposed to trains hauling waste along with other types of cargo.

Nevada officials have long advocated dedicated trains. But Reid and Ensign said the announcement raised troubling questions about the department's shipping plan. They asked for answers by Sept. 1.

The senators asked the department to explain: