Minutes - April 1, 2003

Paul Johnson, White Pine County Commission

JoAnne Garrett, Baker Representative

Roger Edwards, McGill Representative

Wayne Cameron, Ruth Representative

Dorothy Phillips, Ely City Council Representative

The meeting was called to order by Carol McKenzie, Chairman, at 8:39 a.m. at the White Pine County Library Conference Room. Due to lack of a quorum at that time, Carol declared the meeting informational only.

Josie Larson advised the Board that the NRC has been working the Package Performance Study and has been giving presentations and soliciting comments from around the country. They are trying to determine what the public wants in regard to scale and type of testing on rail casks and truck casks that will potentially be used to ship waste to PFS or Yucca Mountain, i.e. half scale or full scale, test until failure, submersion, fire and temperature, etc. She referred to attachments which had been mailed to each Board member with the agenda and solicited opinions from the Board as to what type of testing they would like to see done. Josie advised that these types of tests had been performed in the 1970s, but the casks is question are all new and have not gone through this type of testing before. Susan Lujan felt the casks should be tested until failure, and Sheriff Bernie Romero said that he would like to see the casks tested against potential sabotage in light of current events in the world. The Board also determined they would like to see "back breaker", submersion, fire and high speed impact tests on casks that had a weight and volume equivalent to the waste they would eventually contain. The group felt the horizontal impact tests would be more beneficial than drop tests. Kathleen Weaver pointed out that for impact tests the size of the test vehicles must be considered as well as their speed. The Board determined that actual full scale testing would be preferable to computer models and half or quarter scale testing.

Josie also advised the Board that the DOE is still looking at 2010 for waste acceptance although their license application will probably be delayed until June 2005. The OMB believes the opening date will be closer to 2016.

Josie referred the Board to the March 2003 Nuclear Waste Review article for detailed information on the PFS license application denial. She advised the Board that the State of Nevada will attempt to use the denial to their benefit because of Yucca Mountain's proximity to Nellis Air Force Base.

The NWPO finally received a letter that our FY03 funds have been released. Congress approved $7 million this year for the AULG, which is $1 million greater than last year, so White Pine County will get a greater share to continue its work. Josie reminded the Board that Clark, Lincoln and Nye counties were audited for the years 2000 and 2001 by the DOE Inspector General last fall. While the final report has not been released, portions of funds were disallowed. The three counties are having 50 percent withheld from their 2003 appropriations until the audit report is finalized and the decision made whether the counties will have to pay back the funds, have it taken out of future funding or just let it lie quietly. The State of Nevada was audited also, but to our knowledge no funds have been withheld. The Board was advised that White Pine County is receiving $249,000 in funding for FY03. The FY04 budget came out in February, and the President asked for $591 million for the repository program so they can get ramped up on transportation and licensing, and for FY05 they are asking for $1 billion for pre-licensing and possibly do early analyses on a rail corridor. For FY04 there was no funding for AULG or the state. The DOE said money will still be available, but they want us to submit our program proposals in more of a grant format, and they will review out plans and allocate money as they see fit.

Josie referred the Board to the newsletter once again for current information on Yucca Mountain activities. She advised the Board that John Arthur, the Deputy Director for Repository Development, is supposed to be visiting the rural counties and will hopefully be in Ely later this month. Also, in the President's budget, they put in a proposal to begin land withdrawal, and as part of the license submittal they need to have the land withdrawal pretty much completed. This is in the President's FY04 budget proposal, but nothing on this has gone through Congress yet. The land was outlined in the FEIS, and portions will come from the Air Force, Nevada Test Site and the BLM. The only thing seen in Congress so far is they are also looking to extend the Price Anderson Act for another 20 years. There is still no word as to what DOE's plans are for transportation, however, the NWPO did receive an email that DOE is considering deferring construction of a rail spur to Yucca Mountain, and that overweight truck casks involving a roll-on, roll-off concept would be used instead. OCRWM received $469 million for work on the Yucca Mountain Project for FY03 and there is talk of them asking for a supplemental appropriation of $135 million this spring.

Josie introduced Kathy Weaver, Assistant District Engineer for NDOT to the Board, and advised them that she had asked Kathy to join the Board as the NDOT representative which had been vacant since the resignation of Gene McNutt.

Josie informed the Board of an email received from Dona Merritt of the DOE NNSA Nevada Site Office. A transportation display that was exhibited in the White Pine County Library from December 19, 2002 through February 20, 2003, and Dona was interested in any feedback from the public. Also, a letter went out to one of the low level waste generators requesting the use of Utah State Route 159 should an inter-modal station in Milford, Utah become a reality. Dona also solicited feedback and specific topics to address for their display at the White Pine County Fair in August. She advised that the concerns raised at the October 2002 meeting had not been forgotten.

After the arrival of Ross Rivera, the meeting was temporarily adjourned while Kathy Weaver went over to the County Clerk's office to be sworn in as a member of the Board so a quorum would be present. Karen Rajala arrived during the period the meeting was adjourned.

The final draft of the UNLV/TRC crash study was distributed to Board Members. Josie advised the Board that it had just been received and the NWPO had not yet reviewed it.

Sheriff Romero nominated Carol McKenzie for chairman with Russel Peacock seconding the nomination, and the motion passed. Sheriff Romero nominated Ross Rivera for vice-chairman with Karen Rajala seconding the nomination, and the motion passed.

Russ made the motion for approval of the minutes as written, and Jerry Charles seconded. The motion passed with Bernie Romero and Susan Lujan abstaining.

The next meeting was set for 8:00 a.m. on June 11, and the meeting was adjourned at 9:38 a.m.