Table 6-5. Summary of cumulative impacts
| Resource | Non-NTS Activity Impacts | NTS Program Alternative Impacts | NTS Contribution to Cumulative Impacts |
| Land Use | Over the period 1996-2005, it is likely that changes in
ownership involving the disposal of public lands in the Las Vegas area will
continue. As the Las Vegas metropolitan area continues to expand, land-use
development and zoning regulations will extend over a larger geographical area.
Where land-use zoning regulations are absent, as in Nye County, incompatible
land-use patterns may evolve.
The number of civilian aircraft operations in the region will increase as the levels of population and economic activity grow. Military aircraft operations associated with activities at Nellis Air Force Base and the NAFR Complex are expected to increase gradually over the next decade. |
Activities at the NTS under all alternatives are not expected
to effect land-use patterns or land ownership in measurable ways.
The majority of DOE and DoD aircraft transiting to and from the NTS/NAFR Complex use existing corridors that are adequate to accommodate future use. These corridors do not conflict with routes flown by commercial aircraft. |
Activities at the NTS are expected to have negligible effects
on regional land-use patterns and land ownership.
Activities at the NTS would have negligible effects on regional airspace and its use. |
| Transportation | Rapid urban development will continue to place pressure on
existing transportation infrastructure. Level of service on key roads within the
metropolitan Las Vegas region and on segments of I-15, U.S. Hwy.95, and U.S.
Hwy.93 could deteriorate to unacceptable levels by the year 2000. Approximately
4.0 x 106 vehicle trips per day are projected for Clark County in
the year 2005. Planned highway improvements over the next two decades are
expected to meet the increased vehicle use.
Impacts of transportation of radioactive materials consist of impacts from (1) historical shipments of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel to the NTS, (2) other historical shipments, (3) contributions made by the alternatives evaluated in the NTS EIS, (4) reasonably foreseeable actions that include transportation of radioactive material, and (5) transportation of general radioactive materials that are not related to a particular action. |
Virtually all impacts to transportation would occur on site
under all project alternatives. Maximum off-site impacts would occur under
Alternative 3 as additional workers at the NTS commute over regional highways.
Such impacts are expected to be negligible. In the year 2005, NTS-related
activities would add approximately 1,030 one-way vehicle trips per day to
approximately 4.0 x 106 occurring daily in Clark County. Trucks
bringing radioactive wastes to NTS would increase from 2 under Alternative 1 to
11 under Alternative 3.
The total number of waste shipments from off-site generators could reach 40,000 under Alternative 3. The collective general population dose (person-rem) could reach 154.0. . |
Impacts to regional transportation facilities associated with
NTS activities will comprise a negligible increment.
The estimated number of transportation-related latent cancer fatalities attributable to NTS Alternative 3 would be indistinguishable from other latent cancer fatalities. They would comprise 0.0008 percent of the total number of latent cancer fatalities. |
| Socioeconomics | Population in Clark County is projected to increase to approximately 1.2 x 106 persons by the year 2000 and 1.4 x 106 by the year 2005. This rapid growth could result in substantial increases in demand for housing, schools, and other public services. Additional expenses associated with construction of new facilities and personnel could produce adverse conditions in the area of public finances for local jurisdictions and service providers. | NTS-related activities under Alternative 3 would add only 10,000 persons to a projected population of approximately 1.4 million in Clark County in the year 2005. This minor (less than 1-percent) increase would not result in adverse socioeconomic impacts. Under Alternative 2, some out-migration of NTS workers and their families from the region could occur. Impacts would be negligible. | In- and out-migration potentially associated with Alternatives 3 and 2, respectively, would contribute only negligible impacts to regional socioeconomic effects. |
| Geology and Soils | Geological resources include sand and gravel, mineral products, petroleum and natural gas, and geothermal resources. Continued urban development will influence the demand for sand and gravel with the demand for other resources related more to national and international market forces. | Types of activities at the NTS relate to subsurface contamination through underground testing. Restrictions placed on public access to the site adversely impact the use of mineral and geothermal resources. | It is not anticipated that continued inaccessibility of mineral and geothermal resources at the NTS will result in measurable adverse impacts. These resources are widespread in their occurrence and exist in adequate quantities to fulfill anticipated regional needs. |
| Hydrology | Rapid urban development in the Las Vegas area and southern Nye County has contributed to a state of groundwater overdraft. This condition is likely to be exacerbated as water made available through allocation from the Colorado River is committed. | Groundwater withdrawals on the NTS in excess of historic pumping levels will decrease the water available for future appropriation in the Death Valley flow system. Such increases in withdrawals would be associated with the location of the Solar Enterprise Zone on the NTS. The location of this proposed facility could lower water table levels on the NTS. | Any additional demand for water derived from groundwater sources could exacerbate an existing overdraft condition. Although the development of the Solar Enterprise Zone has the possibility of lowering the water table on the site (or at other potential locations offsite), water withdrawals associated with its operation are not expected to affect downgradient water levels or water quality. |
| Biological Resources | Development and implementation of the Desert Tortoise Recovery Plan is designed to ensure the sustainability of the species. It is unlikely, however, that the species will survive in large sections of the Las Vegas Valley. The Clark County Desert Conservation Plan authorizes the "take" of all tortoises on 110,000 acres of non-federal land in the county. The Plan designates several recovery units located in areas of prime desert tortoise habitat that are subject to a number of land-use constraints designed to optimize the survival and recovery of the species in these units. | The potential exists for disturbance to as much as 15,600 acres of land at the NTS under Alternative 3. Such a loss represents a small amount of the available habitat, and adverse effects to the desert tortoise are not anticipated. | Activities at the NTS will not add measurably to the loss of desert tortoise habitat. |
| Air Quality | The Las Vegas metropolitan area is a nonattainment area for PM10 and carbon monoxide (CO). It is anticipated that continued rapid urban development will exacerbate these conditions. The Regional Transportation Commission of Clark County has prepared a Regional Transportation Plan which would allow the county to be in conformity with the State Implementation Plan for all National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Nye County is in attainment for all criteria pollutants. | Much of the local impact under Alternative 3 is associated
with ground disturbance and the generation of fugitive dust (PM10).
The NTS is located in Nye County and, although activities would increase
quantities of dust, it is not expected that State and national ambient air
quality standards would be exceeded.
Only a small portion of the pollutants associated with mobile sources would occur in Clark County. Although this would add approximately 90 tons per year of carbon monoxide (CO) to the projected CO emissions of 47,532 tons per year in Clark County by the year 2000, it would not create additional violations of the CO ambient air quality standard. Marginal improvements in air quality standards could be expected under Alternative 2. |
With implementation of the Regional Transportation Plan in
Clark County, it is expected that conformity with the State Implementation Plan
for all National Ambient Air Quality Standards will be achieved. Effects
associated with NTS activities are not expected to hinder this achievement of
conformity.
It is not expected that ambient air quality standards in Nye County would be exceeded in the near future. . |
| Noise | In areas undergoing urban development, ambient noise levels can be expected to increase. In areas lacking land-use controls to guide development, incompatible land uses could occur. | Noise impacts associated with activities at the NTS have the potential to affect only an extremely small number of persons because of constraints that exist for access to the site by the general public. | Activities associated with implementation of Alternative 3 would not add measurably to regional noise levels. |
| Visual Resources | The visual character of areas would change as urban development and mineral extraction activities continue. | No significant changes are expected to occur to existing facilities at the NTS under Alternatives 1, 3, and 4. Under Alternative 2, deterioration of facilities could occur that would marginally degrade the visual environment. | Facilities at the NTS are not accessible to the general public, and impacts would have a negligible impact on regional visual resources |
| Cultural Resources | As a result of ground-disturbing activities and unauthorized artifact collecting, over 12,000 sites, 12 percent of which (1,460) may be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, will be adversely affected. Cultural resources found on private lands may be destroyed without data recovery, resulting in a serious loss of the information value inherent in these nonrenewable resources. | Ground-disturbing activities at the NTS could result in the
potential loss of an additional 670 sites under Alternative 3. Of these, about
80 may be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
|
The addition of these NTS-related impacts to those attributable to all other activities could raise the number of potentially lost sites to between 12,200 and 12,900. Of these sites, between 1,460 and 1,550 could be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. |
| Occupational and Public Health and Safety | With the number of persons residing and working in the region, the number of injuries and fatalities will increase. However, injury and mortality rates should remain unchanged, or decrease, assuming the continued enforcement of occupational and public health and safety regulations. | Activities at the NTS could result in up to 775 injuries and 9 fatalities over the period 1996-2005. Occupational radiation exposure to the worker population at the NTS could be 380 person-rem, resulting in 0.128 latent cancer fatalities and 0.096 other detrimental health effects in the worker population. | Activities at the NTS contribute extremely small increments to the risks to which the general population is exposed on a daily basis and should not increase injury and mortality rates in the region. |
| Environmental Justice | The non-NTS programs and projects account for approximately 284,000 acres of land disturbance. Land disturbance of this size could have adverse impacts on Americans Indians who have expressed concerns about holy land violations and the continued survival of their culture. | Concerns that representatives of American Indian groups have expressed relative to activities at the NTS include holy land violations, perceived risks from radiation, and the continued survival of their culture. Land disturbance at the site could have adverse impacts in these areas of concern. | Land disturbance in the region, attributable to changes in use away from an undeveloped state, could potentially raise environmental justice concerns. The increment to such land disturbance contributed by proposed actions at the NTS would be minimal and would not add measurably to the level of concern. |
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