WASHINGTON — The resurrection of a controversial plan to store nuclear waste under Nevada’s Yucca Mountain could also mean a revival for a proposed rail line to the remote site. In late March, the Trump Administration announced it would...
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2017/04/05-trumps-plan-to-store-nuclear-waste-in-nevada-could-revive-proposed-yucca-mountain-route
Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine
After checking a map, truly a railroad to nowhere.
All that money to get there. No apparent reason to build beyond and make another connection with the existing rail network.
You ought to try working out there...spent a year in Caliente, NV one week.
(Pioche Branch, where it leaves the UP Transcon at Caliente ended in 1984 and had to be all kinds of no fun and misery... There were a bunch of short lived narrow gauge operations up there as well)
Rebuild the Las Vegas and Tonopah!
(Closest thing formerly there...)
MC, Been there, overnight. Took my lady (wife) and went home to Prescott, AZ
diningcar MC, Been there, overnight. Took my lady (wife) and went home to Prescott, AZ
NorthWest Rebuild the Las Vegas and Tonopah! (Closest thing formerly there...)
IIRC, that line was taken out of consideration because of all the problems building and operating thru a population center.
I need to build a model of one of these. I can put it between my "gadget" and TMI cars:
Seriously though, it looks like it won't be long before new reactors being developed will be able to use a lot of this stored waste for power generation and places like this won't be so necessary anymore.
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
mudchicken "You ought to try working out there...spent a year in Caliente, NV one week." (Pioche Branch, where it leaves the UP Transcon at Caliente ended in 1984 and had to be all kinds of no fun and misery... There were a bunch of short lived narrow gauge operations up there as well)
"You ought to try working out there...spent a year in Caliente, NV one week."
Obviously, you did not have any 'puter access in "your off-hours"
Googling "Yucca Mt./storage facility" brought up several sites. Digging into the following site and its links will make your head explode, or drive one to drink. See link @http://www.yuccamountain.org/
The following gives one an inkling of what can lay ahead on this site.
"...There are ten (10) designated Affected Units of Local Governments (AULG's) in relative proximity to Yucca Mountain. These AULG's have been granted authority to provide information and public involvement opportunities regarding federal decisions about Yucca Mountain. Accordingly, Eureka County, Nevada [a designated AULG] is the host of YuccaMountain.org. On this website you will find current news clippings, documents, photos, maps, and much more on the history and key issues surrounding the proposed and controversial Yucca Mountain repository project.."
You gotta know when you click on one of the 'pdf' icons in the site, that will bring you a cornacopia of more related links. Governmental wordsmiths know no bounds on their craft. Only the Feds would build 300+ miles of railroad to get out of civilization, and Las Vegas...When 90+ miles would get them there.
Once this facility is open every town along the way will demand to know when a nuke train passes thru their town. The NRC and railroads will resist, but somehow this will become law. Then the protesters will stand on the track and stop the train. Then the government will step in and keep the train movements quiet. Then the protesters will claim the government is uncaring. The circle of life continues.
petitnjOnce this facility is open every town along the way will demand to know when a nuke train passes thru their town. The NRC and railroads will resist, but somehow this will become law. Then the protesters will stand on the track and stop the train. Then the government will step in and keep the train movements quiet. Then the protesters will claim the government is uncaring. The circle of life continues.
Have you looked at the route map? What towns, what people? Thats why they choose Nevada in the first place.
petitnj Once this facility is open every town along the way will demand to know when a nuke train passes thru their town. The NRC and railroads will resist, but somehow this will become law. Then the protesters will stand on the track and stop the train. Then the government will step in and keep the train movements quiet. Then the protesters will claim the government is uncaring. The circle of life continues.
When I read your comment, I had a vision of the train arriving in the protest area in the afternoon of a July day. These days most protests are only active when the cameras are rolling anyway, but in this particular case it is safe to assume that the protest would be very brief before the protesters retreated to air conditioned vehicles.
Dakguy201 petitnj Once this facility is open every town along the way will demand to know when a nuke train passes thru their town. The NRC and railroads will resist, but somehow this will become law. Then the protesters will stand on the track and stop the train. Then the government will step in and keep the train movements quiet. Then the protesters will claim the government is uncaring. The circle of life continues. When I read your comment, I had a vision of the train arriving in the protest area in the afternoon of a July day. These days most protests are only active when the cameras are rolling anyway, but in this particular case it is safe to assume that the protest would be very brief before the protesters retreated to air conditioned vehicles.
Daytime is for track work. Nightime is for railroading.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Building the new rail line makes a little more sense then wall and a few billion cheaper. Lol
See also (re: Public Law 91-121 &etc.):
https://books.google.com/books?id=TOo3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=anniston+chemical+rail+movements&source=bl&ots=WNTyLesq7t&sig=qgwp7WaLBzLtPr7-zL4qxiHC39w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjX75btvJDTAhVE2WMKHf-PBM4Q6AEIJzAC#v=onepage&q=anniston%20chemical%20rail%20movements&f=false
https://books.google.com/books?id=raE4AQAAMAAJ&pg=SL7-PA9&lpg=SL7-PA9&dq=anniston+chemical+rail+movements&source=bl&ots=fSsrjPOI-h&sig=lJVthIup0lI3at4za0992cj3TlM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjX75btvJDTAhVE2WMKHf-PBM4Q6AEIKzAE#v=onepage&q=anniston%20chemical%20rail%20movements&f=false
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014-03/documents/trianadoc21a.pdf
(the author was one of my fraternity brothers !)
- PDN.
Or they (protesters) can get stupid like what happened at Port Chicago, CA.
petitnjOnce this facility is open every town along the way will demand to know when a nuke train passes thru their town.
A Syracuse news site just recently discovered what some number of us have known for a while - there's spent nuke material running down I-81 on a regular basis.
Ignorance is bliss.
Of course, we're not very far from the former Seneca Army Depot, which was never officially acknowledged to be storing nuke weapons...
All those white deer are pretty cool...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
There've been several threads about this over the years. Here are just 2:
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/p/220776/2440072.aspx#2440072 from 2013
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/p/52147/659258.aspx#659258 from 2005
Others can be found by using the "Search the Community" feature over on the right side of these pages - just enter "Yucca", then click on the magnifying glass, and wait a few seconds.
The railroad and the mountain repository is the right idea and everyone with a sense of reason knows it. The so-called groundwater, cracks, and earthquake problems are strawman arguments.
President Carter banned reprocessing of nuclear power plant waste, and because of that odd policy we're stuck with it forever. Thankfully, though, most spent fuel is put in "dry cask" storage which is merely a concrete and steel shell filled with an inert gas so the rods can be retrieved. When they arrive at Yucca they're supposed to be embedded in glass or ceramic and, while not impossible to reprocess, it's a lot more difficult at that stage.
Obama stopped the project as a horse trade for Nevada political support and for no other reason.
It's not the worst thing that's happened to nuclear power due to strawman arguments. Fearing nuclear power, the residents of Long Island, NY, still pay a 3% surcharge started in 1989 to pay for their fully commissioned but never commercially operated nuclear plant. It was fully decomissioned in 1994 and only the switchear remains. The surcharge continues until 2019. Activist groups got the then-new governor to force state officials to reject any evacuation plan, a strawman if there ever was one. I used to live in the area so I know.
Victrola1 After checking a map, truly a railroad to nowhere. All that money to get there. No apparent reason to build beyond and make another connection with the existing rail network.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/13/chicago-paper-implores-trump-to-solve-yucca-mountain-mess-left-by-obama/#ixzz4eA2p1YWd
Found the above linked article from Obama's Hometown Paper The Chicago Tribune. Story by Andrew Follett:
"Chicago Paper Implores Trump To Solve Yucca Mountain Mess Left By Obama"
From the Story[in Part] "...“Obama’s capitulation [to Reid] defied scientific evidence as well as common sense,” the editorial board wrote, criticizing Obama for storing 79,000 tons of nuclear waste in facilities “much less secure and permanent than Yucca Mountain is designed to be” for purely political reasons. The editorial board argued Obama’s policy made “no sense” from a security, safety, or environmental perspective. Instead one easily defensible facility in Nevada, Obama spread waste storage across 34 states.
Nuclear energy advocates have been pushing the federal government for years to open Yucca Mountain.
“President Obama’s kicking the can down the road on Yucca Mountain over two terms was irresponsible on multiple fronts including further mortgaging the US nuclear energy fleet and its future,” David Blee, executive director of the U.S. Nuclear Infrastructure Council (NIC), told The Daily Caller News Foundation..."
Read the entire story at the link above.
The Department of Energy submitted its proposal to build Yucca Mountain in June of 2008, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) determined in 2014 that Yucca met safety standards..."
I'm going to go totally political here.
Obama was in office for eight years, and during that time he did his best to turn America into a second-rate nation. He almost succeded, and he is still trying under the guise of a "community organizer" who has ulterior motives.
That was unacceptable to most in the "flyover" states and some traditionally blue ones.That's why Trump is now the commander in chief. Liberals are frustrated because of that, but America is headed on a new course that would not have happened under Hillary.
Liberals, unwilling to accept reality, are still whining while people in the red states are celebrating victory. An Obama quote said "Elections have consequences". They do, and the left refuses to accept them. Time to wake up to reality folks.
My advice to lefties; get on board and accept the destination or get off the train. You lost. Accept reality for a change. Stop trying to destroy The president simply because you disagree with his goals.
If we had treated Obama the way you are treating Trump the excrement would have hit the air distribution system eight years ago.
Take it or leave it. That is my opinion.
Disagreements are welcome as long as they are not personal attacks bashing me for my opinion. This is a railrod forum and should be confined to such, but others prefer to voice their political opinions and should be countered. Both sides have good points but meeting of the minds is hard to come by.
I expect this thread will be locked Friday morning.
Norm
I've voted in 11 presidential elections. It's not unusual to see a supporter of a given candidate in tears after a loss - after all, they put their all into the campaign. And that's not partisan - it happens on both sides.
However, I can't say as I've ever seen counselling sessions, a la what we see when there's a major tragedy like a mass shooting, as the result of an election.
This was hardly the first time a party has picked the wrong candidate and suffered a loss as a result. Again, it's not limited to one party. What's kind of funny is that we aren't hearing "if she was POTUS..." All we hear is that the current occupant of the office is wrong, pretty mucn no matter what he does.
It's not the first time a candidate has won the popular vote and lost the electoral vote, either.
As noted, what is disturbing is the current "my way or the highway" attitude by both major parties. "Compromise" now seems to be missing from their dictionaries.
Virtually every vote in Congress seems to be straight down party lines. The content of a bill is of little consequence - "if they're fur it, we're agin it..." I suspect that if the same exact bill came up a year later, only brought forth by the other party, the same folks would again vote the "party line," but in the other direction.
Personally, I'd love to see all of the Congressmen (and women) seated in alphabetical order by state - no "which side of the aisle..."
They also seem to forget that they are, in fact, representatives, not entities unto themselves.
And I won't even start on term limits.
tree68And I won't even start on term limits.
Thank you.
tree68 And I won't even start on term limits.
CSSHEGEWISCHTerm limits are a way of saying that the voters can't be trusted to elect the right person.
{nevermind]
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
tree68 wrote the following post[in part] 15 hours ago:
"...This was hardly the first time a party has picked the wrong candidate and suffered a loss as a result. Again, it's not limited to one party. What's kind of funny is that we aren't hearing "if she was POTUS..." All we hear is that the current occupant of the office is wrong, pretty mucn no matter what he does.
As noted, what is disturbing is the current "my way or the highway" attitude by both major parties. "Compromise" now seems to be missing from their dictionaries..."
It sure seems that this Presidential Election cycle has been particularly problematic for both parties. I'll let some' others pick the bones' apart. My own feelings are that both parties are guilty of not picking their strongest candidate. After culling through some 17 or so potential candidates, Mr. Trump was picked because(?)..... [... He was the last guy standing(?)---Chutzpah-(?)...].
Mrs. Clinton seemed to have been picked because(?) [... It was her Turn...(?)]; OR, she was or/(was not) the 'strongest candidate' (?)that her party could have nominated; noted by her constantly blaming everyone else for her loss(?)
And Capital Hill, seems to have become the Capital of political inertia and lethargy. Not to mention low expectations from the citizenry.
There are a lot of folks in public office who probably shouldn't be there, at least in the in the opinion of voters in districts other than their own. As for the guy "we" elected - we like him. The problem is always the fellows (or gals) from the other districts.
Ie, our guy is fine. It's yours that's the problem...
Witness a congressional district that re-elected their representative shortly after he'd been very publicly convicted of a serious crime...
tree68 CSSHEGEWISCH There are a lot of folks in public office who probably shouldn't be there, at least in the in the opinion of voters in districts other than their own. As for the guy "we" elected - we like him. The problem is always the fellows (or gals) from the other districts. Ie, our guy is fine. It's yours that's the problem... Witness a congressional district that re-elected their representative shortly after he'd been very publicly convicted of a serious crime...
CSSHEGEWISCH
Considering that most states have gerrymandered their election districts to keep the 'ruling party' in control of the most seats based on historical voting patterns within those states - Term limits won't do anything except put a new name on the same old corruption.
There needs to be serious attention in forming election districts!
Radio Free Asia, Apr. 7
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/railroad-04072017095337.html
Seven North Korean railroad workers heard criticizing a recent missile test by their secretive, sanctions-hit regime were arrested by authorities in Jagang province at the end of last month, sources say. The workers, members of North Korea’s quasi-military “stormtrooper” construction brigades, had openly questioned the value of the launch, saying that the money spent on weapons tests would be better spent on the country’s crumbling infrastructure, one source told RFA’s Korean Service. “Seven stormtroopers from Jagang province who were deployed to work on the Hyesan-Samjiyon railroad were arrested and handed over to the Security Department,” the source, a resident of neighboring Yanggang province, told RFA this week. “They are suspected of slandering the missile launch that was conducted early last month,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Also speaking to RFA, a second source in Yanggang said the men had been drinking and playing cards on March 6 at the house of their supervisor at the Amnokgang (Yalu River) Collective Farm in Yanggang’s Pochon county when they were overheard. “While they were playing their game, a report of the missile launch was being aired over and over again on television,” the source said. “This annoyed them, and they said, ‘If I had the money to make missiles, I would rather buy more construction equipment.’” Questioned at the time of their arrest, they denied having made any complaint, but security officers forced neighbors and family members of their supervisor to come forward as witnesses and speak against them, he said. All members of the Jagang-based construction brigade present at the work site were then examined by political officers sent from brigade headquarters to test their loyalty, the source said, adding that local villagers have now made the supervisor’s family members targets of contempt. In shared conversations following the arrests, friends and co-workers of the seven who were jailed were quietly sympathetic to their views, the source said. “They didn’t say anything wrong,” the source said. “Instead of building missiles, that money should be used to repair the railroad, buy machinery, and free the stormtroopers from labor slavery,” he said.
UPI, Apr. 12
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/04/12/North-Korea-workers-endured-freezing-weather-to-build-railroad/9511492020588/
North Korean workers endured subzero temperatures while completing work on a railroad, according to multiple sources in the country.
Work on the Hyesan-Samjiyon railroad began in June 2015, but may have been stalled due to annual floods that destroyed infrastructure in North Korea's northeast.
A source in Yanggang Province told Radio Free Asia the project was finished but at a great cost to North Korean workers.
"Construction resumed in late 2016 with the goal of completion by April 15, the birth anniversary of [founder] Kim Il Sung," the source said. "People worked without rest on the project, enduring temperatures of -22 degrees Fahrenheit."
The source also said the work was suspended for some time, after a groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 4, 2015, set to coincide with the commemoration of the Battle of Pochonbo, a Kim Il Sung-led attack against Japanese colonial authorities in 1937.
The source said construction supplies from the Chinese government enabled the work to resume its course.
Beijing did assist Pyongyang with flood relief in 2016, so that the state could recover some of its civilian infrastructure in the aftermath of floods that left at least tens of thousands of North Koreans without shelter.
A second source in Yanggang Province said Kim Jong Un ordered two new diesel locomotives from Kim Jong Tae Locomotive Works be delivered to the railroad.
However, given the lengthy construction period and cold weather, it is likely the railroad would not be in operation until May, the source said.
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