April 30, 2004
It's been a plan since the 1970's, and that's how long people have talked about a radioactive storage site at Yucca Mountain. It became official in 2002. That's when President Bush signed the law selecting Yucca Mountain as the repository site. Then earlier this year, the Department of Energy said it wanted to bring most of the waste into Nevada by rail. That decision has now put many Nevada towns and cities near the tracks which will carry radioactive waste. As News 3's Mitch Truswell reports, for many people, that is not a comforting thought.
Caliente is a town of about 12 hundred people. If the Yucca Mountain project goes through as planned, Caliente would be front and center. How would hauling radioactive waste through the town affect it? That's up for argument. In many ways, Caliente is a town divided.
Marge Detrez is obsessed with the Yucca Mountain project. She is a one woman clearinghouse for information on the hazards of storing radioactive material. "It's the wrong thing to do. If 50 other states don't want it, why does Nevada have to take it?" She's spent her own money for signs outside her home, and the homes of others in Caliente.
"This is my mother. I come from a family of 13 children." Marge, born and raised in Caliente, spent the last decade as an advocate for the health of this town, because her own family's health was put in danger. Many of her sisters and brothers were the so-called down winders from the above ground nuclear tests in Nevada. Leukemia, colon and throat cancer killed many of them.
The Caliente rail corridor would haul radioactive material from a transfer site somewhere in the state, then onto a 319 mile railway, from Caliente to the Yucca Mountain repository. The DOE says the rail line would carry up to five shipments of radioactive material every week for at least 24 years. It's too big a risk for Ruth Dewey, who was born in this area and came back here a few years ago. "We've got all these terrorists going on, the whole idea is crazy. Bringing it to Nevada, you have to go clear across the country. All of these places are unprotected. It makes me sick."
George Davis can see railcars out his front window. He's also concerned. "Do you have enough trust in the government to carry out this plan?"
"No, I don't. They said all this stuff 50 years ago was safe. Soldiers were next to the explosions. All these guys get diseases, cancer ... there's no telling what from nuclear fallout, and the government said it was safe." Caliente was built in part by the railroad. The tracks run right through the center of town. There is a group of people here who say the railroad can bring jobs here again, through the Department of Energy's Caliente rail corridor.
One big supporter is the town's mayor of 11 years, Kevin Phillips. "The case is pretty much in the county, that we raise our kids, then they have to leave. That was not always the case. Mines were booming. There should be an opportunity if we're smart and fortuitous and create jobs for the next generations." Besides jobs created by hauling nuclear waste, there's also an opportunity for the town's future industrial park, giving it access to railroad transportation and new markets.
But for Marge, it's all a dangerous step back. "They haven't gone through the 40's and 50's when we lost all these people. They don't understand how serious this is. This stuff will kill people." Mayor Phillips says dangerous things are already coming through Caliente by rail, things like sulfuric acid and ammonium nitrate, which are compounds also considered life threatening if there were an accident.
The Department of Energy is holding several meetings to get input from the public on the plan to transport waste by rail on the Caliente corridor. The meetings are planned for May 3, 4 and 5th in Amargosa Valley, Goldfield and Caliente, respectively. There is also a meeting planned in Las Vegas at Cahsman Center on May 17th, from 4 to 8 pm.
Caliente corridor meetings
- May 3, Amargosa Valley, Nevada
- May 4, Goldfield, Nevada
- May 5, Caliente, Nevada
- May 17th, Cashman Center, Las Vegas
