Transportation Updates

The future of Yucca Mountain: Washington, D.C. – As part of the Obama Administration’s commitment to restarting America’s nuclear industry, on Janurary 29, 2010 U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced the formation of a Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future to provide recommendations for developing a safe, long-term solution to managing the Nation’s used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste. The Commission is being co-chaired by former Congressman Lee Hamilton and former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft.

High-Level Waste Transportation

The U.S. Department of Energy filed a License Application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, on June 3rd. With this application, DOE’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste management moves forward in meeting its congressionally mandated directive to develop, build, and operate a deep-underground facility that will safely isolate spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from people and the environment for hundreds of thousands of years.

Rail has been selected as the preferred mode of transportation because it is well suited to move larger casks — reducing the overall number of shipments. Public and state officials have also expressed a preference for rail.

Accoring to the DOE the US has an exemplary history of safe transportation of nuclear materials. Since the early 1960s, the U.S. has safely conducted more than 3,000 shipments of spent nuclear fuel, traveling more than 1.7 million miles, without any harmful release of radioactive material.

For all shipments of this waste to the repository, the DOE states they would use extremely durable and massive transportation casks whose designs are certified by the NRC. To be certified, casks must be designed to withstand severe accidents without releasing their radioactive contents. Casks have not been selected yet for the shipment to Yucca Mountain.

The Surface Transportation Board will conduct investigations regarding the Nevada Rail consturciton and regulate the transportation of high-level radioactive waste. On April 11th, the Surface Transportation Board Adopted Procedural Schedule for DOE's Application to build a 300-mile Rail Line in Nevada.

Environmental Impact Statement for the Alignment of a Rail Line in the Caliente Corridor (HTML) (PDF )

The Department of Energy prefers the Caliente Corridor because it is remote, has few land use conflicts, and can avoid Air Force land.
The railroad, when it’s complete, will occupy a strip of land about 200 feet wide.
The mile-wide corridor set aside by the Bureau of Land Management allows DOE to finalize the “exact” route of the railroad within that corridor.
The land “not” used will return to its previous status.
Existing rail lines can carry shipments as far as Caliente. One DOE option brings shipments through the town. Two others bypass the town.
From there, shipments would travel generally west, winding through passes and valleys.
The closest town is Rachel, in Lincoln County, about 20 miles south.
From there it’s northwest, skirting mountains and the northern edge of the Air Force Test and Training Range, to Warm Springs Summit.
The line would be visible from Nevada Route 6 as it crosses the 62-hundred foot summit.
The line would continue west to a point about 15 miles north of Goldfield, where it turns south.
The line would then pass about 3 miles east of Goldfield—not through the town itself.
As the line travels further south, it could be visible from U-S 95 and may parallel the roadway for a few miles.
Shipments would pass about 5 miles east of Beatty—not through the town.
In one example of construction needed to cross Nevada’s rugged terrain, a bridge would probably be needed to cross the Beatty Wash.
The last stretch is between Bare Mountain and Yucca Mountain… and finally to the Repository.
Total distance: about 319 miles.
Time to construct: almost 4 years
Estimated cost: more than 800 million dollars.
The Department of Energy has observed certain natural or cultural resources along or near the route.
These resources include ranches… old mills or mines… springs… wilderness areas… and others.

Up-Dates

High-Level Waste Transportation