Editorial: It’s just a matter of time

Saturday, Oct. 22, 2005 | 11:13 a.m.

Last September Nevada sued the Energy Department over a tiny portion of its stated plan to transport nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The suit concerns the department's proposal to build a 319-mile rail line from Caliente (130 miles northeast of Las Vegas) west to the proposed dump site. Nevada's attorney for Yucca issues, Joe Egan, argued the case this week before a federal court in Washington.

Among the allegations is one stating that the department is planning the rail line while bypassing the Surface Transportation Board, the federal agency that oversees rail projects. The state has an excellent point. The board is charged with being objective in authorizing and overseeing rail-line construction, while the Energy Department is biased and up against a deadline.

The department hopes to be licensed to open the mountain by 2012. Construction of the proposed, $1 billion Caliente line would take four or five years, and even preliminary engineering plans have yet to begin.

Nevada's transportation consultant, Bob Halstead, has studied the department's proposal for the rail route out of Caliente. He says it is so uneven that it would require at least 20 bridges, each more than 200 feet high. Considering the trains' deadly cargo, this image is not reassuring. Halstead also says the route is vulnerable to flooding, rockfalls and even earthquakes.

The department's plans to haul, mostly by rail, 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain from 127 sites is of national concern. The shipments would take place weekly over a 24-year-period. For safety's sake, we believe all affected states should follow Nevada's lead and file federal lawsuits.

Just this week U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta ordered rail companies to correct their track-switching procedures. Nine serious accidents have occurred this year because rail employees forgot to reset tracks, leading trains to collide with other trains or rail cars.

Track deficiencies and human error are common. If the Energy Department's transportation plan is allowed, it will just be a matter of time before a serious accident will involve a train carrying nuclear waste.