ShareThisBy MARK HANSEL
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Motorists traveling along Interstate 15 might want to give that tractor-trailer in the next lane a little extra room. Especially if they notice it sporting a diamond-shaped placard saying "Radioactive 7."
There's a good chance it's hauling one of the roughly 1,200 annual shipments of low-level radioactive waste that travels near, and occasionally through, the Las Vegas metropolitan area.
Although low-level waste in the past was generated from nuclear weapons production and testing, more recently it has originated primarily from cleanup activities at sites throughout the country. Much of the waste that has passed through Nevada in recent years has come from plants nearly 2,000 miles away, at facilities in Ohio and Kentucky.
"It typically consists of personal protective clothing, dirt and debris," said Darwin Morgan, public affairs director at the Nevada Test Site.
Tons of it, all contaminated to some degree, come through the valley on a regular basis on its way to disposal at the Test Site, about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The trucks typically cross into Nevada on I-15, then head west on State Route 160 (a portion of which is known as Blue Diamond Road) southwest of Las Vegas and travel that road north to the Test Site.
Although an accident damaging the contaminants' sealed containers is not considered life threatening, there are risks, says Bob Loux, executive director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects.
"You would likely have to come in direct contact with it or hold it," Loux said. "That's not to say there aren't dangers from prolonged exposure. If it got in the air, there could be safety issues."
City, county and state officials, while acknowledging the shipments' inevitability, would like to at least know in advance when a truckload is headed through the valley.
They don't, however.
Only the Energy Department and trucking companies know the shipments' schedule. The reason they don't pass along the information to local or regional officials is not a matter of national security or because of a potential terrorist threat. It's simply because they don't have to.
Morgan points out that companies transporting other hazardous materials that routinely pass through the valley are not required to submit schedules.
"Is there a reason that we should?" Morgan said. "The trucks are marked."
That answer displeases Las Vegas officials.
"I have a hard time swallowing that," Councilman Steven Ross said. "I feel like we're in a battle with another country and it's the DOE."
Since 1973, there have been only four accidents across the country that resulted in the release of radioactive material during the transport of low-level waste, according to the Energy Department. None of the accidents resulted in death or serious injury, federal officials said.
That, however, is of little comfort to Las Vegas leaders, who stress that when it comes to accidents involving radioactive waste, even one can be too many.
"This is an accident waiting to happen," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said, arguing that the city is entitled at a minimum to know of the shipments in advance.
Energy Department officials' reluctance to provide information about low-level shipments at a time when they are lobbying to bring more dangerous waste into the state for disposal at Yucca Mountain _ a plan that, even if it wins congressional approval, is at least a decade away _ disturbs many.
"Frequently the DOE is its own worst enemy in these things," Loux said.
The advantages of advanced notification, Loux said, include being able to provide emergency personnel with routing information and the ability to independently monitor drivers to ensure route compliance.
Currently the only monitoring is done by Nevada Highway Patrol troopers, who sometimes call the Agency for Nuclear Projects if they see a truck coming through, Loux said.
