Current Status and Potential Impacts Regarding the Proposed Development of a Rail Line to the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository
- U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, Washington, DC (United States)
- Booz Allen Hamilton, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
This paper provides a description of the current status regarding the proposed development of a rail line to the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in Nye County, Southern Nevada, which includes potential impacts analyzed during the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process, and the subsequent creation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the rail line. Potential impacts are addressed within the context of impacts to natural and human environmental resources found within the geographic area of the proposed federal project. Potential impacts to these resources have been fully analyzed in the Rail Alignment Draft EIS (DEIS). This paper includes a summary of the potential impacts analyzed in the DEIS. Examples of potential impacts include land use conflicts, air quality, water use, and impacts to biological and cultural resources, among others. In conclusion: Based on its obligations under the NWPA and its decision to select the mostly rail scenario for the transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, DOE needs to ship these materials by rail in Nevada to a repository at Yucca Mountain. DOE prepared the Rail Alignment EIS to provide the background, data, information, and analyses to help decision makers and the public understand the potential environmental impacts that could result from constructing and operating a railroad for shipment of spent nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and other materials from an existing rail line in Nevada to a repository at Yucca Mountain. This railroad would consist of a rail line, railroad operations support facilities, and other related infrastructure. DOE will use the Rail Alignment EIS to decide whether to construct and operate the proposed railroad, and if so, to: - Select a rail alignment (Caliente rail alignment or Mina rail alignment) in which to construct the railroad; - Select the common segments and alternative segments within either a Caliente rail alignment or a Mina rail alignment. The Department would use the selected common segments and alternative segments to identify the public lands to be included in right-of-way applications; - Decide where to construct proposed railroad operations support facilities; - Decide whether to restrict use of the rail line to DOE trains, or whether to allow commercial shippers to operate over the rail line; and - Determine what mitigation measures to implement. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9 - 332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21319814
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-10-WM-08486; TRN: US10V0649062005
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2008 Waste Management Symposium - WM2008/WM'08: HLW, TRU, LLW/ILW, Mixed, Hazardous Wastes and Environmental Management - Phoenix Rising: Moving Forward in Waste Management, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 24-28 Feb 2008; Other Information: Country of input: France
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Environmental Impacts of Transportation to the Potential Repository at Yucca Mountain
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE PROPOSED WITHDRAWAL OF PUBLIC LANDS WITHIN AND SURROUNDING THE CALIENTE RAIL CORRIDOR, NEVADA