Monday, March 7, 2005 | 10:52 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department and Nye County officials are taking a door-to-door tour of part of Nevada through which proposed rail routes would haul nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain.
The officials have been to roughly 35 homes since June to explain the department's plan to transport highly radioactive waste through their backyards.
Reactions at kitchen tables have included shock, anger and cautious curiosity, said Susan Moore, administrative technical coordinator for the Nye County Department of natural resources and federal facilities. She helped organize the field trips. More sit-downs are planned to connect with as many of the 100 or so residents, ranchers and mining companies that own land affected by the proposed mile-wide rail corridor, she said.
"The DOE needs to tell them what is going on," Moore said. "So I think this has been a good thing. Hopefully, the DOE takes heed of their concerns."
Despite years of budget shortfalls and other setbacks, the Energy Department is plodding ahead with the federal plan to construct a national repository at Yucca Mountain for the highly radioactive waste that is piling up at U.S. nuclear reactor plants and U.S. Defense sites. The plan has been delayed for years. Energy Department officials say the repository won't open until at least 2012, while some program critics say it would be at least 2015.
One hurdle is construction of a $1 billion, 319-mile rail route through Lincoln and Nye Counties that would be used to ship the waste from near the Utah border to Yucca.
Energy Department officials have said the construction would not be difficult, although Yucca critics say the desert route is fraught with trouble, including rough terrain and occasional flooding.
It's also peppered with people who pose a public relations problem for Yucca managers. Lots of folks on or near the proposed rail line moved to the desert to get away from populations and development -- and now don't appreciate the idea of atomic trains rolling by, several land owners said.
Kevin Emmerich owns property near Beatty roughly 2.5 miles from the planned rail line. He and his wife bought the six-acre former cattle ranch three years ago from the Nature Conservancy, a national environmental group that buys up environmentally sensitive land and sells it to owners with strict land-preservation conditions.
Emmerich's property, dotted with cottonwood and willow trees, is also home to Amargosa toads, found only in Nye County. That prompted him to nickname the place the "Atomic Toad Ranch."
On Jan. 24, Emmerich invited several officials from the Energy Department, and a representative from Yucca contractor Bechtel SAIC, into his home for a 45-minute grilling.
He got some answers. He said they told him the trains would travel up to 59 mph and would pass by three to four times a week -- at any time of the day or night. There may be at least one highway overpass built to accommodate the trains, the officials told him. A bad-weather protocol will be developed, they said.
But the department didn't have specific answers to some questions, Emmerich said.
"The biggest concerns I have are that they don't seem to have any plans for informing people if there is an accident, or creating an evacuation plan," Emmerich said. "I want to see details. When they left, I felt more helpless than I did before they came."
The Energy Department officials who made the visits would not be made available for comment, department spokesman Allen Benson said, speaking on their behalf.
"We don't have all the answers yet," Benson said. "That's why we are so engaged in transportation planning activities."
Calls to Bechtel SAIC were referred to the Energy Department.
Some Nye County residents believe Yucca could be an economic boon. Nye County elected officials have long sought to negotiate for economic benefits if the repository is constructed.
Nye County Commissioner Joni Eastley went along for some of the visits, but declined to describe the conversations. Residents directed their questions to the Energy Department, not her, she said.
Reactions to the visits were "mixed," she said.
"Some people support it," she said, "and some people are against it."
Benson said the Energy Department will provide full details about the proposed shipping campaign well before trains ever begin hauling waste to Yucca. Local emergency responders will be trained about three years in advance of the shipments, he said. Benson noted that more public hearings on rail line will be held along the proposed route this year, perhaps late this summer.
"There are a lot of people who look at this from an economic development point of view," Benson said. "And there are a lot of people who have questions about safety. And those are legitimate questions. That's why we are spending a lot of time there."
The Energy Department faces more than just residents. Anxious mining companies have questions -- and suggestions -- about the rail route. The Energy Department has proposed withdrawing 308,600 acres of public land for the route, which would prohibit mining.
The rail line would cut through some of the roughly 20,000 acres in the Goldfield area that Metallic Ventures Inc. has been exploring for years. Company officials have met with Yucca managers numerous times, most recently at the company's Goldfield office, urging them to consider another route west of their claims, said Ed Devenyns, vice president for corporate development.
So far, the department seems at least open to considering alternatives, he said.
"We believe the exploration potential is great," he said. "It just doesn't make sense to even potentially preclude development there. There are better alternatives."
Joe Fellini, who owns one of the largest ranches in Nevada and holds grazing rights on a large swath of Nye County, said the train route would impact access to about 20 of his springs and wells. He's "mad as hell" and considering a lawsuit, he said.
"They don't care," Fellini said. "They're going to do whatever they want."
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