Committee on Transportation of Radioactive Waste

April 28, 2003

A National Research Council study committee has been formed under the auspices of the Board on Radioactive Waste Management and Transportation Research Board to examine the transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste in the United States. The committee will develop a high-level synthesis of key technical and societal issues for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste transport and will identify technical and policy options for addressing these issues and managing transportation risks. Although the principal focus of this study will be on the transportation in the United States, the study will also draw on international experiences as well as experiences with transporting other waste types

The committee will hold up to eight meetings over the next 20 months to gather information, deliberate on the issues, and produce a final report containing its findings and recommendations. The first committee meeting will be held on May 16, 2003 at the National Academies' Keck Center at 500 Fifth Street NW, in Washington DC. Future information-gathering meetings will be held in other regions of the United States to enhance opportunities for input to the study.

The provisional committee slate, including committee bios, has been posted for a 20-day public comment period on the National Academies' web site. Additional information about the May 16 and future committee meetings, including meeting agendas, will be posted on the National Academies' web site as it becomes available. Please contact Ms. Laura Llanos at (202) 334-3066 or via e-mail at lllanos@nas.edu if you would like to arrange to receive this information automatically.

Current Conditions in White Pine County

White Pine County is traversed north to south by Highway 93, east to southwest by Highway 6, and east to west by Highway 50, also known as the "Loneliest Road in America". Ely, the county seat, lies at the intersection of these primary arteries through eastern Nevada. In this regard, Ely is a gathering place for tourists and locals, well isolated from other population centers.

The highway route that the Department of Energy identified in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for legal weight trucks through the State of Nevada is the only route that would satisfy U. S. Department of Transportation regulations. Trucks using this route would enter Nevada via I-15, pass through (or around) Las Vegas, and complete the journey to the repository on U. S. Highway 95. However, there is strong political resistance within Nevada and the Las Vegas Valley to locating a transport route carrying high-level nuclear waste through the Las Vegas metropolitan area.

The State of Nevada may, at its discretion, designate an alternate preferred route.

The State has not yet officially designated an alternate route for route-controlled high-level radioactive shipments, but the Nevada Department of Transportation has commissioned studies to analyze alternative routes.

However, U. S. 93/6, which passes through White Pine County and bisects the City of Ely, has been designated by the Nevada Department of Transportation as an "alternative route" permissible for interstate trucking - including all classes of hazardous materials - with the exception of route-controlled high-level radioactive shipments.

As a result, U. S. 93/6 is experiencing an increasing amount of heavy truck traffic, including a substantial number of HAZMAT shipments. A large percentage of low-level radioactive waste destined for the Nevada Test Site utilizes U. S. 93/6 as well as U. S. 50/6.

The U. S. 50/6 routes through Elko, White Pine, and Nye Counties are two-lane highways with minimal availability of pullout areas, rest stops, or service facilities. There are no designated safe haven areas. Most of these routes traverse sparsely populated high-desert and mountainous terrain, all of which is above 5000’ MSL. Road conditions in the winter normally include snow and ice, particularly in the mountain passes.

While the U. S. 93/6 route through White Pine County is largely rural and isolated, it ironically includes a section known as the McGill/Ely Corridor. The high concentration of residences, businesses, and schools along this corridor and in close proximity to U. S. 93/6 is of major concern due to the risk associated with transportation of high-level nuclear waste. Characteristics of this corridor, including density and land-uses, are similar to the characteristics of the potential route for high-level nuclear waste near Las Vegas that planners have indicated they want to avoid. In many cases the distances between commercial and residential properties and the actual roadway in White Pine County may be less than the distance between the highway and commercial/residential properties in the Las Vegas corridor.

Code of Federal Regulations

The following link will take you to the U. S. National Records and Archives Administration web site where you can review the complete text or selected sections of all CFR titles.

CFR Online Index

Transportation

Research and Special Programs Administration, Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation

49 CFR 397.101 and .103 establishes the criterion for preferred routes. A carrier or any person operating a motor vehicle containing a highway route controlled quantity (HRCQ) of Class 7 (radioactive) materials, as defined in 49 CFR 173.403(1), shall operate the motor vehicle only over preferred routes. Preferred routes consist of Interstate System highways. If an Interstate System bypass or Interstate System beltway exists around a city, these roads shall be used in place of the Interstate System highway through the city. States routing agencies have the option of designating alternative routes in addition to, or in lieu of Interstate System routes.

Routes must be selected to reduce the time in transit over the preferred route segment of the trip. For pickup and delivery not over preferred routes, the route selected must be the shortest distance route from the pickup location to the nearest preferred route entry location and the shortest distance from the nearest preferred route exit location.

Energy

Nuclear Regulatory Commission
10 CFR Part 71 -- Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Material

10 CFR 71.5 Transportation of licensed material
(a) Each licensee who transports licensed material outside the site of usage, as specified in the NRC license, or where transport is on public highways, or who delivers licensed material to a carrier for transport, shall comply with the applicable requirements of the DOT regulations in 49 CFR parts 170 through 189 appropriate to the mode of transport.
(1) The licensee shall particularly note DOT regulations in the following areas:
(i) Packaging -- 49 CFR part 173: Subparts A and B and I.
(ii) Marking and labeling -- 49 CFR part 172: Subpart D, §§172.400 through 172.407, §§172.436 through 172.440, and subpart E.
(iii) Placarding -- 49 CFR part 172: Subpart F, especially §§172.500 through 172.519, 172.556, and appendices B and C.
(iv) Accident reporting -- 49 CFR part 171: §§171.15 and 171.16.
(v) Shipping papers and emergency information -- 49 CFR part 172: Subparts C and G.
(vi) Hazardous material employee training -- 49 CFR part 172: Subpart H.
(vii) Hazardous material shipper/carrier registration -- 49 CFR part 107: Subpart G.
(2) The licensee shall also note DOT regulations pertaining to the following modes of transportation:
(i) Rail -- 49 CFR part 174: Subparts A through D and K.
(ii) Air -- 49 CFR part 175.
(iii) Vessel -- 49 CFR part 176: Subparts A through F and M.
(iv) Public Highway -- 49 CFR part 177 and parts 390 through 397.

(b) If DOT regulations are not applicable to a shipment of licensed material, the licensee shall conform to the standards and requirements of the DOT specified in paragraph (a) of this section to the same extent as if the shipment or transportation were subject to DOT regulations. A request for modification, waiver, or exemption from those requirements, and any notification referred to in those requirements, must be filed with, or made to, the Director, Spent Fuel Project Office, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555 - 0001.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The following link will take you the Nuclear Regulatory Commission web site.

Transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel:
What we regulate and how we regulate


Potential Transportation Routes to Yucca Mountain

Potential Rail Corridors to Yucca Mountain (map)

Potential Nevada Rail Routes to Yucca Mountain (map)

National Highway, Rail and Barge Routes to Yucca Mountain (This link will take you to the State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects website.)
Are the potential routes near me? (This link will take you to the Environmental Working Group Mapscience website.)