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Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 68 / Thursday, April 8, 2004 / Notices
8 Application of these measures to national security activities may, in some respects, be subject to section 7 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. section 10106. labels, and placards of hazardous contents must be provided; and all spent nuclear fuel and high-level also recognizes that for all alternatives involving transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, there could be cumulative impacts from past, present and reasonably foreseeable future activities involving transportation of other radioactive materials. Based on the analyses in the Final EIS, DOE does not expect that any cumulative impacts would be significant over the duration of shipping spent nuclear fuel and high- level radioactive waste to the repository. Based on these various considerations, DOE concludes that shipping by mostly rail, both nationally and in the State of Nevada, would be preferable to shipping by mostly truck or using heavy-haul trucks in Nevada. Use of All Practicable Means To Avoid or Minimize Harm—Transportation Mode The shipment of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste is highly regulated and subject to the utmost scrutiny. DOE carefully follows the Department of Transportation (DOT) and NRC transportation rules now and will follow or exceed any others that may be established in the future whether by the Congress or by DOT or NRC. DOE also will consult with states, Native American tribes, local governments, utilities, the transportation industry and other interested parties in a cooperative manner to refine the transportation system as it is developed. Measures DOE will implement to avoid or minimize harm include the following 8 : prior to the shipment of spent nuclear fuel, the shipper or carrier must select routes and prepare a written plan listing origin and destination of the shipment, scheduled route, all planned stops, estimated time of departure and arrival, and emergency telephone numbers; advance notice must be provided to State and local governments prior to shipping irradiated reactor fuel through their states; anyone involved in the preparation or transport of radioactive materials will be required to have proper training; carriers must be provided with shipping papers containing emergency information, including contacts and telephone numbers, readily available during transport for inspection by appropriate officials; clearly identifiable markings,
Basis for Transportation Mode Decision As we explain below, the Department has concluded that it should use mostly rail nationwide and in Nevada based, in large part, on the analyses of the Final EIS. The Department also considered the preferences for rail transportation expressed by the State of Nevada and demonstrate that the potential radiation doses to workers and the general public from rail, truck or barge transportation would be very small, and that the differences in resulting potential impacts from such exposures among the different modes of transportation also would be very small. Nevertheless, using mostly rail tends to minimize the potential environmental impacts that could occur. The decision to rely primarily on the nation’s rail system to ship these materials would result in fewer shipments than would occur if legal-weight trucks were the primary mode of transportation. This in turn would result in fewer trucks on public highways. The lower number of rail shipments as compared to truck shipments is estimated to result in fewer potential traffic fatalities and, under routine conditions, slightly fewer latent cancer fatalities to workers and the general public relative to mostly legal- weight truck shipments. In reaching its decision, DOE also considered the number of commercial nuclear sites having, or expected to have, the capability to handle rail casks, the distances to suitable railheads near the commercial nuclear sites, and historical experience using rail to ship spent nuclear fuel and other large reactor-related components. The Department found that the preponderance of commercial sites have the capability and experience to ship to nearby railheads. The Department also considered preferences expressed by the State of Nevada in its comments on the Draft EIS. In these comments, the state indicated that DOE should plan its transportation system to maximize the use of rail. The Department also considered irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources and cumulative impacts in making its decision. There would be an irreversible and irretrievable commitment of resources, such as land, electric power, fossil fuels and construction materials, associated with the construction of a rail line in Nevada, although this commitment of resources would not significantly diminish these resources, either nationwide or in Nevada. DOE other factors described below. The analyses in the Final EIS
7 In March 2004, DOE issued a Supplement Analysis and determined, in accordance with 10 CFR 1021.314, that this rail/legal-weight truck scenario would not constitute a substantial change to the proposal previously analyzed in the Final EIS or significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns, as discussed in 40 CFR 1502.9(c)(1). Additionally, the Department would use heavy-haul truck and possibly barge as needed to ship spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear sites to nearby railheads outside Nevada for shipment to the repository. manner to refine the transportation system as it is developed. Furthermore, DOE must comply with the transportation-related provisions of the NWPA. Spent nuclear fuel and high- level radioactive waste will be shipped to Yucca Mountain in casks that have been certified by the NRC (Section 180(a)). Prior to these shipments, DOE will comply with the regulations of the NRC regarding advanced notification of state and local governments (Section 180(b)). Transportation Mode Decision Under the NWPA, the Department is responsible for planning that will allow for the transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the event the NRC authorizes receipt and possession of these materials at Yucca Mountain. Accordingly, as the next step in fulfilling that responsibility, the Department is issuing this Record of Decision to select a transportation mode. The Department has decided to select the preferred mode of transportation analyzed in the Final EIS, the mostly rail scenario, both on a national basis and in the State of Nevada. Under this decision, the Department would rely on a combination of rail, truck and possibly barge to transport to the repository up to 70,000 MTHM of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Most of the spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste would be transported by rail. The Department would use truck transport where necessary, depending on certain factors such as the timing of the completion of the rail line proposed to be constructed in Nevada. This could include building an intermodal capability at a rail line in Nevada to take legal-weight truck casks from rail cars and transport them the rest of the way to the repository via highway, should the rail system be unavailable at the time of the opening of the repository 7 . In addition, since some commercial utilities are not able to accommodate rail casks, they would ship by legal- weight truck to the repository.
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