RADIOACTIVE TUNNEL VISION NUCLEAR WASTE SITE A HOT ISSUE.

Byline: Andrew Silva Staff Writer

YUCCA MOUNTAIN, Nev. - With a breathy whoop whoop of its whistle, the little mining train rolls into a tunnel beneath a mountain at the heart of a debate almost as explosive as the volcanic eruptions that gave birth to it.

Deep inside 5,000-foot-high Yucca Mountain, scientists continue to study how water moves, how heat affects the rock, and how the whole thing will behave when 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste is stored there.

After more than two decades of study, Yucca Mountain took its most significant step last week toward becoming the first burial site for the nation's most dangerous radioactive waste.

Some of the waste would likely be transported through Ventura County, the San Fernando Valley and nearby region en route to Yucca Mountain.

``Almost without fail, people will say if you can't do it here, you can't do it anywhere,'' said Michael Voegele, chief science officer for Bechtel SAIC Co., the contractor studying the site for the Department of Energy.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday agreed that the Department of Energy may seek a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build the repository.

The emotional and contentious battle now moves to the courts and to the agency that regulates the nuclear-power industry.

The windblown, scrub-covered mountain lies between Death Valley about 30 miles to the west, and the Nevada Test Site immediately to the east, where hundreds of nuclear bombs were exploded between the end of World War II and 1992.

The nearest town, Amargosa Valley, is a tiny stop on the road about 20 miles away.

Voegele, who's worked on the project almost since its inception, is a passionate defender of the site, with a quick answer for most of the criticisms launched by a wide network of opponents, most notably Nevada's leaders who are livid at the prospect of becoming the nation's nuclear dumping ground.

They have filed five lawsuits challenging the choice of the site and are confident they can stop the project.

``The attorneys believe any one of those (issues in the suits) is a show stopper,'' said Joe Strolin, of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, which is part of the Nevada Governor's Office fighting the project.

Its campaign focuses on possible problem that might result from transporting the deadly cargo to what many hope is its final resting place in his state.

Waste from the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on the central coast of California could be transported to Yucca Mountain through Ventura County, the San Fernando Valley and nearby regions.

Review by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will begin when a license application is submitted, probably in late 2004, is of little comfort to some local officials. The earliest the repository would open is 2010.

Supporters are confident they can stand up to intense scientific scrutiny but admit the emotion of the debate may be a tough hurdle.

``One credible scientist can derail this program,'' Voegele said, arguing that most scientists who have looked carefully at the site agree it's an appropriate location. ``My reputation is on the line. But I'm old. If this program doesn't go forward, I'll retire and become a fishing guide.''

Last week, he took reporters, including a video crew from the Washington bureau of the Tokyo Broadcasting System, on a tour of the mountain.

The remoteness of the mountain is striking. Heading out from Las Vegas on Highway 95 for the hour-and-45-minute drive to the mountain about 90 miles away, the only town of note is small Indian Springs, where the Air Force's unmanned Predator surveillance drones are based.

Once past security at the entrance to the Nevada Test Site, the geology lesson begins.

Voegele points to a jumble of dark colored rocks on the side of a hill. The coloring is called desert varnish, which takes thousands of years of form. If the rocks had been shaken loose by an earthquake in the recent geologic past, the light-colored undersides of the rocks would be visible, he said.

There is an earthquake fault that runs through the mountain, but Voegele said computer models show that even a powerful temblor shouldn't cause a release of radiation.

Opponents scoff at the idea a big earthquake will have little effect.

Visible from the top of the mountain are several red-colored mounds in the distance - cinder cones born of the area's volcanic past. Volcanism has been raised as a possible concern, though Yucca Mountain itself is not a volcano. It was formed by the hot ash from nearby explosions.

But the main issue of contention over the mountain's effectiveness as a passive protector of the public for tens of thousands of years hinges on something much more prosaic.

``Yucca Mountain is all about water,'' Voegele said. ``If the water can't get to the waste, it has no way to move it.''

The site is arid, averaging about 7 inches of rain annually. The mountain will provide 1,000 feet of cover above the waste. The water table is 1,000 feet below the waste storage area.

The rock layer on top of the mountain is fractured, but Voegele said most of the fractures are small and lead to dead-ends, making the layer an almost impenetrable maze for water to penetrate.

The rock type a few hundred feet below that would act like a sponge, absorbing any water that got through the first layer and before it got to the waste containers.

The massive 25-foot-diameter tunnel boring machine that chewed through the mountain to create the 5-mile main tunnel never ran into water, Voegele said.

High-tech, corrosion-resistant, alloy drip shields will provide a man-made barrier to ensure water won't reach the containers.

Even if the containers fail sometime in the future, water would have to carry the radioactive particles another 1,000 feet through rock to the water table below. By that time, the levels of radiation should be much lower, and any that does make it to the water table should be in tiny concentrations, scientists said.

Opponents said there is evidence the water moves much faster than that, and worry that future generations could be looking at a contaminated aquifer.

``They've found traces of radioactive material from the nuclear tests,'' said Michael Mariotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a nuclear watchdog group.

``If material can move into the mountain, it can move out of the mountain.''

Opponents also ask how can scientists guarantee the drip shields and storage containers will last more than 10,000 years. The waste will remain radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years.

``They'll be robust, but after 10,000 years in the mountain?'' Mariotte said. ``Nothing man-made is perfect. This demands a high level of perfection.''

RADIOACTIVE ROUTE?

The U.S. Energy Department plans to transport high-level radioactive waste from the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in Central California to Yucca Mountain, Nev., taking it through Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley.

Plans call for the waste to be transported by barge from San Luis Obispo County to Port Hueneme, where it would be taken by truck or train to the underground repository in northwest Nevada.

While the DOE hasn't yet specified land routes, a Washington-based watchdog organization, the Environmental Working Group, has said rail lines in Ventura County, the San Fernando Valley and the Antelope Valley, and the Golden State and 210 freeways in the San Fernando Valley and Santa Clarita, meet federal safety standards for nuclear shipments.

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday approved the Yucca Mountain project, just across the California border from Death Valley, which would hold up to 77,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste.

Opponents have vowed to file suit to block Yucca Mountain, which was strongly supported by President George W. Bush.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 3 -- color) At top, a DOE worker heads into the tunnel, left, of Yucca Mountain in Nevada, the proposed repository for the nation's radioactive nuclear waste, where testing is still under way, right.

(4) Dr. Michael Voegele, Yucca Mountain project's chief science officer, stands atop the 5,000-foot site.

Eric Reed/Staff Photographer

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RADIOACTIVE ROUTE? (see text)