County looking for input on nuke waste route study

A Nuclear Regulatory Commission study for transporting high-level radioactive waste through the Las Vegas Valley has prompted Clark County officials to invite public comment on the proposal.

An open house is scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Clark County Government Center on Grand Parkway. It will be in Room 3, to the right of the cafeteria.

Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site being studied to host a national high-level nuclear waste repository. If the repository is built, shipment of up to 77,000 tons of radioactive waste could begin in 2010.

The commission's study is part of an environmental impact statement for renewing nuclear reactors. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is the federal agency that would license a nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain if the site passes scientific muster.

The transportation study, which ignores increasing traffic problems and the growing risks from accidents, would be used to allow transport of high-level radioactive waste through Clark County over the next 25 years with no further study, review or justification, County Senior Planner Kevin Smedley said.

Nevada officials discovered the study and asked for more time to comment as well as a hearing by the commission in Las Vegas. The public comment period ends Tuesday, unless the commission extends it.

The commission set 30 days for public comment and scheduled no public comment on the document, which is called a generic environmental impact statement for license renewal of nuclear power plants.

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