What are the transportation routes in Nevada?
In 2004, the Department selected the Caliente corridor in Southern Nevada as the preferred option for a rail route to Yucca Mountain. Waste would be shipped on existing rail lines or highway routes to Caliente, in southeastern Nevada. The Caliente rail line would curve west around Nellis Air Force Base and then down to Yucca Mountain (see map). The rail line would cover a distance of 319 miles and is estimated by the DOE to take 4 years to build at a cost of $800 million. In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, DOE must complete an Environmental Impact Statement on the rail corridor before construction can take place. In a March 2004 supplemental document to the Record of Decision on Caliente, DOE revealed that legal-weight trucks might be used to ship casks of waste on existing Nevada highways for up to 6 years while the rail line is under construction. Under this scenario, waste shipped on existing rail lines across the U.S. would be transferred to trucks at intermo
