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Q: Where is the PFS site relative to the Utah Test and Training Range? A: The southern portion of the UTTR is located west of the Stansbury Mountains and the Great Salt Lake. The PFS site is located over 18 miles east of the eastern land boundary of the UTTR. It is over 8 miles northeast of the northeastern boundary of Dugway Proving Ground. The UTTR's airspace is somewhat larger than the UTTR's land area and is roughly 150 miles long by 100 miles wide. The PFS site is located within the Sevier B military operating area (MOA), which is part of the UTTR's airspace. Q: What is a military operating area (MOA)? A: A MOA is airspace that is identified as having military aircraft operating within it. Unlike restricted airspace, such as that to the west of the Sevier B MOA and the PFS site, civilian and commercial aircraft may fly through a MOA with permission when the U.S. Air Force is not using the air space. As a practical matter, most civilian and commercial aircraft avoid flying through a MOA due to the difficulty in getting flight clearance. Q: What Air Force activities take place within the Sevier B MOA? A: The part of the Sevier B MOA near the PFS site, in Skull Valley, is only used by F-16 aircraft from Hill Air Force Base to fly to the southern part of the UTTR. Some of that flight may involve low-altitude navigation training, but all of the activity in Skull Valley is routine and low-risk. The Sevier B MOA itself is a large region, about 145 miles long. Additional Air Force training and testing activity does take place on the southern portion of the Sevier B MOA, distant from the PFS site. Q: What kinds of military aircraft fly on or around the UTTR in the vicinity of Skull Valley? A: Military aircraft flying roughly in the vicinity of Skull Valley consist of four groups:
Q: What is the risk that an airplane will crash into the site? A: When all the aircraft that could potentially fly near the proposed site location are considered, the combined probability that one will crash into the site is 0.66 x 106 (0.66 in one million) per year. The chance that a military aircraft would hit the site is 0.4 x 106 (0.4 in one million) per year. This is roughly equal to the chance per year that any given person living in the United States will be killed by being struck by lightning. It is ten times less likely than the chance that any given person living in the United States will be killed in a plane crash. Q: Would the Air Force's use of bombs or missiles on the UTTR create the risk of an accident at the PFS facility? A: No. Targets on the UTTR are located only on Defense Department land. The PFS facility is located over 20 miles from the nearest aircraft target. The Air Force strictly controls the use of weapons on the UTTR and a weapon has never been accidentally released outside of designated launch or release areas on the UTTR. Aircraft flying over Skull Valley are not permitted to arm their weapons until after they reach the restricted areas on the range, where combat training takes place. Additionally, there are no target approach routes over Skull Valley. Q: What about cruise missiles? A: The presence of the PFS facility would not require the Air Force to restrict its testing of cruise missiles on the UTTR. Cruise missile testing would not pose a significant hazard to the facility. Cruise missile tests are carefully planned to ensure their safety. Cruise missile targets on the UTTR are located over 18 miles from the PFS site. Air Force instructions require that cruise missile flight paths avoid inhabited areas. In practice, the Air Force maintains a distance of at least 2.3 miles between missile paths and such areas. The presence of inhabited areas in English Village on Dugway Proving Ground, south of the PFS site, and on the Goshute Indian Reservation, where the PFS site is located, restrict the space available to the Air Force for cruise missile flight on that part of the UTTR even if the PFS facility is never built. Q: How can the Air Force be sure that its cruise missiles will fly where they are supposed to and will not hit the PFS facility? A: Cruise missiles tested on the UTTR must have Flight Termination Systems (FTSs), which are designed to quickly end the flight of the missile if a problem occurs. The FTS can bring the missile to the ground well within the 2.3-mile distance maintained between missile flight paths and inhabited areas on the UTTR. Range Safety Officers can activate the FTS at any time if necessary. The UTTR has never experienced an FTS failure. So the chance that a cruise missile would hit the PFSF is extraordinarily low. Q: Even though the chance of an aircraft ever hitting the PFS facility is much less than one in a million per year, and the chance of a cruise missile hitting the facility is extraordinarily low, what would happen if one did? A: In all likelihood, not very much. The concrete and steel casks that would contain the spent nuclear fuel would likely prevent any radioactive material from being released to the environment. The mostly probable cause of an F-16 accident near Skull Valley would be an engine failure. In the event of an engine failure, pilots are trained to climb away from the ground and slow the aircraft. This allows them more time to restart the engine if possible. If the pilot must eject after the engine failure, the typical impact speed for the aircraft would be between 230 and 260 miles per hour (200-225 knots). This is well below the impact speed needed for an F-16 engine to penetrate one of the storage casks and expose the spent fuel. The only part of the aircraft that could penetrate the cask is the engine. The other parts are deformable and would break off or disintegrate upon hitting a solid object like a cask. Because they are much lighter than aircraft like the F-16, the impact of a cruise missile also most likely would not penetrate a storage cask and would not release any radioactive material to the environment. If the aircraft or missile was descending at impact, or struck the cask at an angle or off center, then the speed needed to penetrate the cask would be even higher, as the aircraft or missile would tend to deflect off the side of the cask. Because the storage cask is cylindrical, it is most likely that an aircraft or missile would strike it at an angle. Q: What if, despite the very low probability that it would happen, an aircraft or missile hit a storage cask at a speed and angle sufficient to penetrate it? A: If an aircraft or missile were to penetrate a cask, the consequences would be localized and minimal. Brookhaven National Laboratory has assessed the consequences of an accident in which a cask is penetrated by an object blown into it at a speed of 567 miles per hour by an extremely severe tornado. The maximum amount of radiation received by an individual off site as a result of the accident would be significantly less than the NRC regulatory limit for public exposure from accidents. The study also shows that the accident would require the cleanup of 1.3 acres of land at a cost of about $6 million. Q: Would the presence of the PFS facility require the Air Force to restrict operations on the UTTR? A: No. The presence of the PFS facility would not require the Air Force to impose any restrictions or changes on UTTR operations. The military target closest to the PFS site is over 18 miles away so there is no chance of hitting the PFS site with an errant weapon. In addition, the simulated aerial combat training that is conducted on the UTTR takes place near the center of the restricted areas on the range, even farther from the PFS site, so those activities would not pose a hazard either. Q: Would the presence of the storage site require the Air Force to restrict F-16 operations in the Sevier B MOA? A: No. The presence of the PFS facility in Skull Valley would not require the Air Force to restrict the operation of military aircraft within the Sevier B MOA. The chance of a military aircraft crashing and hitting the proposed site, which includes the chance that an F-16 flying through Skull Valley would crash and hit the site, is extremely low, well below the NRC's regulatory standard. Therefore, there is no need for the Air Force to restrict F-16 operations in the Sevier B MOA. Q: Would the PFS facility threaten the viability of the UTTR or Hill Air Force Base or hurt the economy of the State of Utah? A: No. The chance that a military aircraft, bomb, or missile would hit the PFS facility and cause a release of radioactivity to the environment is extraordinarily low. So there would be no need for the Air Force to restrict operations on the UTTR or the operations of aircraft flying from Hill Air Force Base. The PFS facility would not prevent military activities from being conducted on the UTTR or at Hill Air Force Base the way they are today. Therefore, the facility would not threaten the viability of the range or the base and would not make it any more likely that the range or the base would be closed. Accordingly, the PFS facility also would not threaten the economy of the State of Utah.
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