The Yucca Mountain program presents the state of Nevada with the prospect of incurring risks and impacts unprecedented in U.S. history. The project has the potential to wreak economic, social and environmental havoc on Nevada.
Given the Nevada economy’s unique reliance on the ability to attract millions of tourists and visitors annually, the most serious economic risk for the state stemming from the Yucca Mountain project is the potential for significant losses to visitor-based revenues. Dozens of studies carried out by the state spanning two decades show that populations important to Nevada’s economic well-being (tourists, businesses, event planners, convention goers, etc.) are highly sensitive to radioactive risks associated with a nuclear waste repository and waste transportation. The studies conclude that the attractiveness of the state as a place to visit, move to, or invest in would be threatened.
The Las Vegas metropolitan area alone could receive more than 2,700 truck shipments and approximately 900 to 5,000 rail shipments of highly radioactive waste over the life of the project, depending on how waste shipments are routed by the railroads.
A radioactive waste accident in or near Las Vegas would inevitably produce significant visitor losses. Even without such an accident, the mere presence of a repository, less than 90 miles from the state’s major economic center, could have a chilling effect on the economy of the state.
Annual losses to the economy could reach $39 billion or more in the event of a nuclear waste accident, according to the state’s studies. Even without an accident, research suggests that the Nevada economy stands to lose upwards of $5.5 billion annually from the stigmatizing effects of the repository and high-level nuclear waste shipments.
State and Clark County researchers found that the value of property, especially along potential nuclear waste shipping routes, stands to be dramatically affected should the Yucca Mountain project go forward. If a major accident involving radiological contamination were to occur, property value losses would be devastating. A severe truck accident in Las Vegas could contaminate up to 4.3 square miles and cost more than $1.7 billion to clean up. A severe rail accident involving the release of radioactive material could contaminate up to 40 square miles and result in over $15 billion in clean-up costs.
The direct costs of preparing for and dealing with the project and the nuclear waste shipping campaign that would accompany it would be staggering for state agencies and Nevada’s general fund. Estimates for start-up costs and just the first year of operations exceed $657 million. The total costs to agencies over the 40-year life of the Yucca Mountain shipping campaign would be in the range of several billion dollars.
Local government public safety agencies would bear the brunt of fiscal impacts. In Clark County alone, the county’s Nuclear Waste Division estimates the costs of preparing for and dealing with waste shipments have been estimated at more than $3 billion.
Any negative statewide economic impacts associated with or caused by the repository or repository-related nuclear waste transportation would have a disproportionate impact on Native American communities. Such communities are, for the most part, already severely economically disadvantaged, and the negative impacts of the Yucca Mountain project would further exacerbate these conditions.
The proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository project poses major risks for the state of Nevada, as well as for the country as a whole. It is time for the federal government to move towards finding real and workable solutions to the nuclear waste problem.