Welcome to the CSG Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee Update. Below are links and summaries of several important happenings from the last few weeks. Please don't hesitate to contact Lisa (920/458-5910) or Sarah (630/925-1922) with any questions or concerns about any of these issues.

Western States Hold Spring Meetings

On April 18-19th, the Western Governors' Association WIPP Transportation Technical Advisory Group and the Western Interstate Energy Board High-Level Radioactive Waste Committee held their spring meetings. Sarah Wochos attended the meetings for the Midwest. Several important developments that came from the meetings are:

• Argonne National Labs in Illinois will start shipping remote-handled transuranic waste to WIPP sometime this fall. These shipments will pass through Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska on their way to WIPP in New Mexico. Prior to the start of shipments DOE and CSG Midwest will arrange for "road shows" in the Midwest to give state personnel a chance to see the cask and trailer for the shipments and to talk with the drivers and DOE staff.
• The states will receive OCRWM's first draft of a national transportation plan for Yucca Mountain shipments this summer. The intent is to give the states enough time to review the plan before the TEC meeting in July. Click here to see the committee's comments on the national transportation plan outline.
• According to OCRWM's Judith Holm, DOE is getting ready to publish the draft policy and procedures on Section 180(c) in the Federal Register. Drafted with substantive input from the Midwestern states, the policy and procedures will explain how DOE will provide states and tribes with funding and technical assistance to help them prepare for shipments. According to Judith, the states can expect to see the draft policy in the Federal Register "sooner than soon." Once this happens, the Midwest's 180(c) Work Group will review the policy and prepare regional comments for the committee's review. Click here to see the committee's January letter on Section 180(c).
• Though OCRWM is facing a continuing resolution budget for 2007, they believe they can still make the June 2008 deadline for submitting the Yucca Mountain license application.

Please contact Sarah if you'd like to see her complete report on the meeting.

Low-Level Waste Shipments Coming Through the Midwest

DOE's Environmental Management (EM) program will be shipping low-level waste from several sites to EnergySolutions in Clive, Utah, or the Nevada Test Site. These shipments will come through the Midwest. Click on the name of each site to see the campaign fact sheet or click here for a general low-level waste fact sheet.

• The West Valley Demonstration Project in New York will make approximately 160 rail and truck shipments to EnergySolutions.
• West Valley will also make 140 rail shipments to Nevada Test Site starting this spring.
• Mound/Miamisburg in Ohio will ship Operable Unit-1 low-level soil and debris to EnergySolutions via rail. There will be approximately 560 railcars of debris and shipments will begin this summer.
• Oak Ridge in Tennessee will ship approximately 1,500 truckloads of low-level and mixed low-level waste shipments to EnergySolutions and another 50 truckloads to the Nevada Test Site.

The committee will hear more about these and other EM shipping campaigns at the meeting in Jefferson City. Please contact Lisa or Sarah for more information.

Mina Route Derailed

The Walker River Paiute Tribe announced that they would no longer consider allowing DOE to ship spent fuel to Yucca Mountain along the Mina rail corridor. Click here to see an article on the decision. DOE had originally made the decision to build a rail line along the Caliente route. Click here to see a map of the Caliente and Mina routes. Last fall, however the Paiute tribe announced they were removing their objection to DOE using the shorter Mina route. DOE quickly added an analysis of the Mina route, which includes some existing track, to the Supplemental Rail Corridor and Rail Alignment Environmental Impact Statement (also known as the rail alignment EIS). With the rail alignment EIS due out this year, the Paiute tribe reversed the decision on April 17 and reinstated the prohibition on DOE using the route. DOE will now refocus its efforts on the original Caliente route, which is a 319-mile route originating in eastern Nevada.

Thanks for reading! Look for the next issue in two weeks!

Sincerely,
Lisa Janairo and Sarah Wochos
Committee Staff