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LAS VEGAS, Nevada, July 18, 2002 (ENS) - A $130 million wind farm planned for land that is part of the Nevada Test Site about 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas has been abruptly canceled by a federal agency due to military concerns. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Nevada Operations Office has terminated the siting process for the wind farm based on objections raised by officials at the adjacent Nellis Air Force Base. Air Force officials said the whirling turbine blades might interfere with radar signals. They said the interference would impact testing, training and tactics development on the nearby Nevada Test and Training Range. Planes from Nellis Air Force Base fly a training mission over the Nevada Test Site (Photo courtesy U.S. Air Force) Kathleen Carlson, manager of the Nevada Operations Office, made the final decision with review and concurrence by NNSA Administrator John Gordon. "We had clearly hoped this project could come to fruition," said Carlson. "However, we must support the mission requirements of the Air Force to train, test and develop tactics in an unfettered environment." The wind farm was a project of MNS Wind Power, a private company composed of M&N Wind Power Inc. of La Jolla, California and Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia. It was to have been built and operated in partnership with the Nevada Test Site Development Corporation, a nonprofit corporation that works with the U.S. Department of Energy to promote the growth of science and technology in Nevada. Nevada Test Site Development Corporation CEO and president George Ormiston declined to comment on the halt to wind farm development. Two years in the planning, the wind farm would have covered 1,069 acres with up to 545 wind turbines, and generated up to 600 megawatts of electricity. One megawatt is enough to power 1,000 typical homes. Siting in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act had been going on about seven months with experts looking for the windiest location in an area called Shoshone Peak. The wind project was part of a Clinton administration plan to purchase three percent of federal energy requirements from renewable sources by 2005. Nuclear test fired October 26, 1958 at the Nevada Test Site. After July 1962, all NTS weapons tests were underground. (Photo courtesy DOE) More than 1,100 support buildings and laboratories are spread across the 1,350 square mile nuclear test site. Established as the Atomic Energy Commission's proving ground, the Nevada Test Site has seen more than four decades of aboveground and underground nuclear weapons testing, until the nuclear weapons test moratorium was implemented in 1992. Subcritical nuclear weapons tests, which do not produce an atomic chain reaction, are still conducted there. Now under the direction of the Department of Energy, the test site is used for high explosive experiments, hazardous chemical spill testing, emergency response training, conventional weapons testing, and waste management and environmental technology studies. A 100,000 square foot nuclear explosive Device Assembly Facility originally built to consolidate all U.S. nuclear explosive assembly functions, may now be used for disassembly of nuclear weapons retired from the U.S. stockpile. The Energy Department announced Wednesday that it will award $300,000 to the Nevada Test Site Development Corporation (NTSDC). This block grant is earmarked for "administrative support for rural economic development, renewable energy, aerospace activities, asset management and business incubation," the DOE said. "The Energy Department is a good neighbor to the communities surrounding our sites," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said. "Working with the NTSDC and other community reuse rganizations around the country, the department has retained, expanded or created over 25,000 jobs for workers affected by restructuring efforts at DOE sites."
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