County wants special consideration in Yucca Mountain issue

Nye County Commissioners on passed a resolution April 16 on Yucca Mountain, asking that if Congress decides to ship nuclear waste there, it should give special consideration to the site county.

The vote was 4-0, with Commissioner Dick Carver absent. The Nye County resolution outlines the contributions the county already made to the nation, in pressing its case.

The resolution states Nye County is the location of the Nevada Test Site, where, for more than 40 years, the U.S. government conducted nearly 1,000 nuclear weapons tests that contaminated large tracts of land and groundwater. It notes, "Recent studies reveal that radiation released in 828 underground nuclear detonations is migrating in poorly understood regional groundwater systems."

The county added that low-level nuclear waste already arrives by truck on two-lane roads traveling through four Nye County communities. The county states in 2001 there were 600 shipments containing 750,000 cubic-feet of waste. Nye County is also the location of Nellis Test and Training Range, a primary training range for the best fighter pilots and home of the Tonopah Test Range, where the military has developed new-technology combat aircraft. Both made major contributions to national defense.

Federal agencies occupy 98 percent of Nye County's land base and contribute very little to the economic tax base, the resolution states.

"It is clear that the Yucca Mountain Project, if implemented as proposed, will achieve the expected benefits for others by the transfer of the nation's highly radioactive wastes, along with all its attendant risks and uncertainties, from 80 sites in 35 states to a single community in Nevada -- Nye County," the resolution states.

Nye County has a responsibility to protect local health, safety and welfare, the resolution states. It notes the studies Nye County conducted since 1985 on the geology and hydrology downgradient from Yucca Mountain to study the potential for contamination. "These independent investigations have identified uncertainties and contingencies -- in science, design and in implementing organization and funding -- that require continued independent inquiry and confirmation."

Nye County outlines three points in its concluding remarks.

"Now therefore, it hereby is resolved as follows: 1. Nye County has not sought to provide the site to which the federal government would transfer the nation's highly radioactive wastes for permanent disposal. 2. The nation and the various parties who stand to benefit have a special obligation to the single local jurisdiction to which they desire to transfer their unwanted radioactive wastes."

A third point mentions an obligation of legislators to support the Nye County Community Protection Plan. The plan's main points include: empowering Nye County to conduct independent oversight of Yucca Mountain for 50 to 300 years of repository operations; locating the headquarters of federal activities to confirm the repository performance and possible research on reuse of the waste in Nye County; transporting the waste by rail with minimal risk to Nye County communities; and special federal actions to develop a viable economic and revenue base in the county, like at other DOE facilities.

"Nye County Board of County Commissioners intends to vigorously communicate situs county perspectives, concerns, and aspirations to officials in federal and state government and to other parties who have an interest in the Yucca Mountain repository decision and to advocate its proposed protections in the event that the federal government decides to transfer the nation's highly radioactive wastes to Yucca Mountain," the resolution concludes. "Nye County opposes any program for repository implementation that does not fully and forthrightly address its situs county concerns and aspirations."

Nye County Commission Chairman Jeff Taguchi said, "I find it adequately addresses the need for us to advocate our community protection plan before Congress."

Commissioner Joni Eastley said she particularly liked the wording that federal activities should be headquartered in Nye County and suggested the radioactive waste not be called waste but "a potential resource." Commissioner Cameron McRae told DOE Institutional Affairs Specialist Bob Lupton to emphasize, in his presentations to others on Yucca Mountain, that it's located in the heart of Nye County, not 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"Transportation is the big decision looming on the horizon," Lupton told commissioners. The schedule to ship nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain by 2010 Lupton described as "very aggressive; it assumes no litigation would forestall that timeline."

Taguchi asked Lupton if the DOE had plans to try to raise the 77,000-ton limit of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain set by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Lupton said there's indications from scientists there's room for more storage at Yucca Mountain or the DOE would have to find another location.

Nye County Commissioners approved a $25,000 contract plus travel expenses with consultant Jim Williams to present the county's case to federal legislators. That amount will be paid out of the county's general fund. Williams is already under an $86,000 county contract funded by U.S. Department of Energy oversight money this year to plan mitigation actions for the impact of Yucca Mountain; help develop policies and implementation planning for the project; analyze and plan for transportation and emergency response issues; and other similar projects. Williams has been the author of numerous studies on the economic impacts of Yucca Mountain in Southern Nevada.

In an annual report given to all 10 counties surrounding Yucca Mountain, DOE funding to Nye County for oversight has totaled $22.6 million since 1989, including $2.01 million this year. When combined with the other nine counties surrounding Yucca Mountain, DOE awarded $67 million in oversight money in the past 12 years.

"I think citizens have benefitted greatly from these grant programs, like the early warning drilling program," McRae said. "We're doing everything to validate the safety concerns and any issues that may arise."

In addition, Nye County collected $65.9 million in Payments Equal to Taxes (PET) since 1992, the lion's share of the $73.3 million total. The DOE also provided $82 million in funding to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the Harry Reid Center, University of Nevada, Reno, Desert Research Institute and Community College System of Nevada.


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