During a break, the paper asked Lanthrum about safety concerns. He replied that the DOE believes shipments will be safe because the country is already safely shipping such material.

Allen Benson, DOE spokesman who is in Salt Lake City for the meetings, said about 3,000 shipments of spent fuel have been sent around the United States by utilities over the years. This radioactive material was moved safely a cumulative distance of about 1.7 million miles, he said.

The rate of shipments is expected to increase once the repository opens.

The DOE budget request for planning, design and other activities regarding transportation is $880 million per year for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1.

But the budget for planning transportation of nuclear fuel to Yucca Mountain has not been passed. Instead, Congress has passed a "continuing resolution" budget item based on last year's funding level, $577 million per year.

The resolution ends Nov. 20. By midnight that date, Congress must pass another resolution or the final budget or face a funding crisis.

Benson said the House of Representatives came up with a much lower figure than the agency sought: only $131 million for the fiscal year. The Senate has yet to act. Once the Senate passes a budget, the two chambers must work out a final figure.

How much money is available will affect how planning proceeds, according to Lanthrum.

Some materials destined for the repository are of "off-normal size" and would not fit into the typical safety cask. If funding is limited, special-size shipment containers may not be available because it's more efficient to spend the money on methods that guarantee more material will be moved.

---

E-mail: bau@desnews.com