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IMPACT ASSESSMENT
REPORT ON PROPOSED SHIPMENTS
OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL
AND HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE THROUGH EUREKA
COUNTY, NEVADA Prepared for Board of Eureka County Commissioners FINAL August, 2001 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE Part 2 -- DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED ACTION�� 2 Transportation scenarios�� 2 Proposed schedule�� 6 Packaging and vehicles�� 7 Rail spur construction�� 7 Rail spur operations�� 14 Accidents during operations�� 16 Cumulative project description�� 18 Part 3 -- AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT�� 19 A. Overview and General Setting�� 19 B. The Natural Environment�� 19 Climate and hydrology, generally�� 19 Water resources�� 24 Seismicity�� 27 Air resources�� 27 Vegetation and soils�� 28 Wildlife and fish�� 29 Range�� 31 Scenic resources�� 35 C.� The Human Environment�� 36 Cultural resources�� 36 Population and demographics�� 37 Land ownership�� 37 Economy�� 37 Housing�� 40 Mining and minerals�� 41 Infrastructure and public facilities�� 43 Public finance�� 46 Outdoor recreation�� 47 Public health and the quality of life�� 48 D. The Regulatory Environment�� 49 Table of Contents, cont. Part 4 -- ANTICIPATED IMPACTS OF THE PROPOSED ACTION ��52 A.� The Natural Environment�� 52 Environmental impacts, generally�� 52 Hydrology and water resources�� 52 Air resources�� 54 Vegetation and soils�� 55 Wildlife and fish�� 56 Range resources�� 57 Scenic resources�� 59 B.� The Human Environment�� 60 Cultural resources�� 60 Population and demographics�� 61 Land ownership�� 61 Economy�� 62 Housing�� 65 Mining and minerals�� 66 Infrastructure and public facilities�� 66 Public finance�� 69 Outdoor recreation�� 70 Public health and safety�� 70 Noise, land use, and quality of life�� 72 Part 5 -- MITIGATION OF ANTICIPATED IMPACTS�� 74 Mitigation, generally�� 74 Mitigation of impacts on the natural environment�� 74 Mitigation of impacts on the human environment�� 76 Part 6 -- PREPARATION OF THIS REPORT�� 81 REFERENCES�� 82 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1����������� Map of corridor for proposed Carlin rail line in Eureka County�� 4 Figure 2����������� Area of 100-year flood, mapped by FEMA�� 5 Figure 3����������� Profile of proposed Carlin rail line in Eureka County�� 10 Figure 4����������� Typical cross sections, proposed railroad bed�� 11 Figure 5a����������� General location map�� 20 Figure 5b����������� Eureka County map�� 21 Figure 5c����������� Location map, Beowawe and vicinity�� 22 Figure 6����������� Generalized soil map of the Crescent Valley�� 30 Figure 7a����������� Map of Crescent Valley grazing allotments�� 32 Figure 7b����������� Map of Geyser allotment�� 33 Figure 7c����������� Map of South Buckhorn allotment�� 34 Figure 8����������� Map of land ownership in northern Eureka County�� 38 Figure 9����������� Map of land ownership in northern Eureka County, as affected by rail corridor�� 39 Figure 10����������� Map of patented mining claims in and adjacent to the Crescent Valley�� 42 Figure 11����������� Map of roads in the Crescent Valley, as affected by rail line construction�� 67������� PREFACE At 9:30 p.m. on August 12, 1939, the Southern Pacific Railroad�s streamliner, The City of San Francisco, derailed in the Palisade Canyon in Eureka County, near Harney, 16 miles west of Carlin, killing 24 people and injuring 121.� The SPRR said that a saboteur moved a rail, while others blamed the accident on unsafe speed.� The accident was officially ruled a sabotage (DeNevi, 1977; Foote, 1989; Henderson, 1995).� The train had departed from Chicago on August 11, and had traveled through Council Bluffs, IA, and Ogden, UT, on its way to San Francisco (Foote, 1989).� At a length of about one-quarter mile, a weight of 1.2 million pounds, pulled by six engines generating 5,400 horsepower, with air brakes and a low center of gravity, and costing over $2 million, The City of San Francisco �symbolized the ultimate in safety engineering.��� Owned jointly by the SPRR, the Union Pacific Railroad, and the Chicago-Northwestern Railroad, it carried 220 people, including the crew (DeNevi, 1977; Hickson, 1980). Hickson (1980) reports that the engineer �felt the big unit lurch, then jump the tracks, out of control.� Crossing the bridge, the power sections and two cars traveled about nine hundred feet before grinding to a stop.� Five cars dropped into the Humboldt River and three more went off the tracks and down an embankment.� Only four units remained upright on the tracks.� According to Foote�s eyewitness account (1989), the coffee shop car in which he was riding jumped the tracks and tore down a steel truss bridge, and the rest of the train broke apart.� Foote was thrown entirely free of the train and was seriously injured. As the story of The City of San Francisco shows, even the best-engineered systems are subject to failure, and vulnerable to human error and sabotage.� Other serious accidents have occurred on our nation's transportation systems, even as this report was being prepared, including a train wreck near Battle Mountain, Nevada, and an incident in a tunnel in downtown Baltimore.� The latter example was accompanied by three elements that could create a worst-case nuclear transportation accident--fire, water, and mechanical force. The proposed action of the U.S. Department of Energy involves a profound element of risk, which the Congress and the President may impose upon the land and people of Eureka County.� It would have numerous impacts--some of them beneficial, others not.� This impact assessment report attempts to begin to describe the risk and the impacts, for discussion and deliberation by all affected persons. FINAL������������ ����������������������� ����������������������� ����������������������� ����������������������� ����������������������� ��������� 1 August, 2001 Part 1: In accordance with the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act, and in response to the request of� Nevada�s Agency for Nuclear Projects, the Board of Eureka County Commissioners directed the preparation of this impact assessment report.� The report discusses the anticipated impacts on Eureka County from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposal to transport spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste through Eureka County to a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain.� On January 20, 2000, Eureka County submitted written comments to the DOE on the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed repository (USDOE, 1999a), including its transportation components.� The County said, and continues to believe, that the DEIS is insufficient for decision-making related to the proposed action.� This impact assessment report does not take the place of a complete environmental review by the DOE.� Within the constraints of available resources and incomplete information regarding the project, it is simply a preliminary survey of anticipated effects and possible needs for mitigation. This report consists of six parts: introduction, description of the proposed action, affected environment, anticipated impacts, mitigation of anticipated impacts, and information on preparation of the report itself.� A list of references is also included.� Further, Eureka County encourages readers to consult the following list of reports and other resources (some of which are available on the Internet at www.yuccamountain.org) for additional background information:
The reader should direct any comments or questions on this report to Abigail C. Johnson, c/o Yucca Mountain Information Office, Eureka County, P.O. Box 714, Eureka, NV 89316 (775/237-5372). |
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