[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 248 (Monday, December 29, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74951-74952]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-32029]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Notice of Preferred Nevada Rail Corridor

AGENCY: Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, U.S. 
Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of the Preferred Nevada Rail Corridor.

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SUMMARY: On July 23, 2002, the President signed into law (Pub. L. 107-
200) a joint resolution of the U.S. House of Representatives and the 
U.S. Senate designating the Yucca Mountain site in Nye County, Nevada, 
for development as a geologic repository for the disposal of spent 
nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The Department of Energy 
(DOE or Department) is now responsible for planning and implementing a 
transportation program for the shipment of spent nuclear fuel and high-
level radioactive waste, in the event the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
authorizes receipt and possession of spent nuclear fuel and high-level 
radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain.
    In the Final Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic 
Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level 
Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, Nevada (DOE/EIS-0250F) 
(Final EIS), the Department evaluated various modes of transportation 
including mostly rail, mostly legal-weight truck and mostly heavy-haul 
truck. The Department identified the mostly rail alternative as its 
preferred mode of transportation in the Final EIS.
    In the event that DOE selects the mostly rail alternative, a rail 
line would need to be constructed to connect the repository site at 
Yucca Mountain to an existing rail line in the State of Nevada. 
Accordingly, the Final EIS evaluated five rail corridors \1\--Caliente, 
Carlin, Caliente-Chalk Mountain, Jean, and Valley Modified. The 
Department, however, did not identify a preferred rail corridor in the 
Final EIS, but indicated it would do so at least 30 days before making 
any decisions on the selection of a corridor.
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    \1\ A corridor is a strip of land, approximately 400 meters 
(0.25 mile) wide, that encompasses one of several possible routes 
through which DOE could build a branch rail line. An alignment is 
the specific location of a rail line in a corridor.
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    The Department is now announcing the Caliente rail corridor as its 
preferred corridor in which to construct a rail line in Nevada, and 
Carlin as a secondary preference. If the Department adopts the mostly 
rail mode in Nevada, DOE will issue a Record of Decision selecting a 
rail corridor no sooner than 30 days after publication of this 
preference announcement. If the Department selects a rail corridor, DOE 
will issue a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register to initiate the 
preparation of a rail alignment EIS under the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) to consider alternative alignments within the 
selected corridor for construction of a rail line. Under this scenario, 
the Department would anticipate holding public scoping meetings in 
early-to-mid February, 2004. The exact date, time and locations of the 
meetings would be announced in the Notice of Intent.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
    To obtain a copy of the Final EIS or for further information 
contact: Ms. Robin Sweeney, Office of National Transportation, Office 
of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, U.S. Department of Energy, 
1551 Hillshire Drive, M/S 011, Las Vegas, NV 89134, Telephone 1-800-
967-3477. The Final EIS is available on the Internet at ocrwm.doe.gov.
    For further information regarding the DOE NEPA process contact: Ms. 
Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance (EH-
42), U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW., 
Washington, DC 20585, Telephone (202) 586-4600, or leave a message at 
1-800-472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    In the Final EIS, DOE analyzed a Proposed Action to construct, 
operate and monitor, and eventually close a geologic repository at 
Yucca Mountain. As part of the Proposed Action, DOE analyzed the 
potential impacts of transporting spent nuclear fuel and high-level 
radioactive waste from 72 commercial and 5 DOE sites to the Yucca 
Mountain site.\2\ Transportation

[[Page 74952]]

could be accomplished using a variety of modes, including legal-weight 
truck, rail, heavy-haul truck, and possibly barge.
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    \2\ Additional sites (primarily research reactors) will ship 
spent nuclear fuel to DOE for disposal at the repository. Shipment 
from these sites to DOE is covered under a separate Environmental 
Impact Statement, Programmatic Spent Nuclear Fuel Management and 
Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Environment Restoration and 
Waste Management Programs Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-
0203; April 1995), and associated Record of Decision (June 1, 1995; 
60 FR 28680)). Two of these research reactors were recently closed 
and the spent fuel removed. Adding these sites to the 77 sites 
listed above results in a total of 129 sites with spent nuclear fuel 
or high-level waste destined for repository disposal.
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    The Final EIS examined various national transportation scenarios 
and Nevada transportation implementing alternatives to estimate the 
range of potential environmental impacts that could occur. Two national 
transportation scenarios, referred to as the mostly legal-weight truck 
\3\ scenario and the mostly rail \4\ scenario, and three Nevada 
implementing alternatives, referred to as the legal-weight truck 
alternative, the rail alternative, and the heavy-haul truck \5\ 
alternative are evaluated. In the Final EIS, the Department identified 
the mostly rail scenario as its preferred mode of transportation, both 
nationally and in the State of Nevada.
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    \3\ A truck with a gross vehicle weight (truck and cargo) of 
less than 80,000 pounds having dimensions, axle spacing, and if 
applicable, axle loads within Federal and state limits.
    \4\ Rail is defined to include vehicles, such as locomotives and 
specialized freight cars, with steel wheels running on steel rails 
using standard gauge that is compatible with the U.S. freight rail 
network.
    \5\ A heavy-haul truck is an overweight, overdimension vehicle 
that must have permits from state highway authorities to use public 
highways. An intermodal transfer station is a facility at the 
junction of rail and road transportation used to transfer shipping 
casks containing radioactive materials from rail to truck, and empty 
casks from truck to rail.
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    Implementation of the mostly rail scenario would require the 
construction of a rail line to connect the repository site at Yucca 
Mountain to an existing rail line in the State of Nevada. Accordingly, 
the Final EIS evaluated five rail corridors--Caliente, Carlin, 
Caliente-Chalk Mountain \6\, Jean and Valley Modified. The Department, 
however, did not identify a preferred rail corridor in the Final EIS.
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    \6\ As stated in the Final EIS, DOE considers the Caliente-Chalk 
Mountain rail corridor to be non-preferred, because of adverse 
effects on the security and operations of the Nevada Test and 
Training Range.
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Preferred Nevada Rail Corridor

    After consideration of public comments, the analyses of the Final 
EIS and other information, the Department has identified the Caliente 
corridor as its preferred rail corridor with the Carlin Corridor as the 
secondary preference. The Department's preference for Caliente takes 
into consideration many factors, including its more remote location, 
the diminished likelihood of land use conflicts, concerns raised by 
Nevadans, and national security issues raised by the U.S. Air Force on 
the Caliente-Chalk Mountain corridor. Approximately one-third of the 
Caliente and Carlin corridors overlap. Since the Carlin corridor has 
similar attributes overall, DOE has identified the Carlin corridor as 
the secondary preference in the event the Caliente corridor is not 
selected.
    If the Department adopts the mostly rail mode, DOE will issue a 
Record of Decision selecting a rail corridor no sooner than 30 days 
after publication of this preference announcement. If the Department 
selects a rail corridor, DOE will issue a Notice of Intent in the 
Federal Register to initiate the preparation of a rail alignment EIS 
under NEPA to consider alternative alignments within the selected 
corridor for construction of a rail line.

    Issued in Washington, DC, December 23, 2003.
Margaret S.Y. Chu,
Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management.
[FR Doc. 03-32029 Filed 12-24-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P