Critics Question Yucca Mountain Upgrade Plan

Jul 24 - Las Vegas Review - Journal

Although they are at least two years away from seeking a license to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Department of Energy officials intend to spend $100 million over the next several years to build roads, power lines and a central operations area at the site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The upgrade plan has raised questions among critics about the need for new construction, its drain on water resources and the potential for stirring up toxic dust.

Details of the proposed infrastructure improvements are contained in a draft environmental assessment plan that the federal agency put out for public comment this month. Comments should be submitted no later than Aug. 7, according to the Federal Register notice.

The plan calls for construction of up to 33 miles of new and replacement roads, more than 20 miles of power lines and a central operations area with six buildings to replace existing facilities that in some cases have exceeded their operational life, according to the 70-page draft document.

The buildings include a 43,000-square-foot field operations center for offices, training, computer operations and emergency facilities; a 10,000-square-foot station for fire and medical support; and a 43,000-square-foot craft shop for maintenance and repair operations.

None of the work is directly related to the planned repository, nor is the work being done to construct concrete pads for storing nuclear waste aboveground so that it can age before it is entombed inside the mountain, project spokesman Allen Benson said.

"Whatever we're doing is to ensure the safety of our workers and our guests," he said Friday. "This is for safety and security."

But Nevada critics of the repository plan, including Steve Frishman, a full-time consultant to the State Nuclear Projects Agency, said the upgrades are "totally unjustifiable."

"The real issue in this whole thing is that we can't find in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act that they can have authorization to do this kind of work," he said late Friday.

"It's pretty clear, especially with the new schedule, that this has got to be a leg up for getting deeper in the expense for going forward," Frishman said.

On April 19, the project's facility operations director, Scott Wade, told a meeting of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's advisory committee on nuclear waste that the upgrades would cost roughly $100 million.

Some of the construction activities could potentially affect air quality, wildlife, water resources and American Indian cultural resources, the report indicates.

Another potential issue is water needed for construction activities. Litigation continues over the state engineer's denials in 2000 and 2003 of the Energy Department's request for permanent rights to 430 acre-feet per year for the Yucca Mountain Project.

There has been no resolution in the water appropriation matter, but under a stipulation, the project is currently allowed to use about five acre-feet per year for its facilities and sanitation.

Construction activities would require much more temporary use of the water, however, between 230 acre-feet and 297 acre-feet, according to the report.

There are about 326,000 gallons in an acre-foot, which is almost enough water to supply two average Las Vegas homes for one year.

As much as 150,000 cubic yards of fill material would be hauled to the site and graded flat. Some of the fill material could be obtained from either the existing muck pile near the North Portal, existing pits or a new one 15 miles from the mountain.

The material would have to be crushed and screened, the report states.