The Department of Energy has begun running its new Atlas railcar in continuous loops through the Idaho National Laboratory desert, because federal rules require the wagon to accumulate 100,000 miles of service before it may carry a single container of spent nuclear fuel across state lines. The first real shipment, from Virginia to Idaho, is scheduled for late 2027.
Each loop is a full working train: two locomotives, the 12-axle Atlas, two shield cars loaded with 89 tonnes of welded steel plate, and an escort car with armed security. The train travels at 80 km/h, the maximum permitted, and the DOE has calculated that at this speed the required distance will take just under three years of near-continuous operation.
«We are treating the desert as a rehearsal for the entire country», said Patrick R. Schwab, the DOE's Atlas project chief. «By the time the wagon reaches Virginia, it will have seen every curve profile in North America, even the ones it will never actually visit.»
The shield cars, which weigh 119 tonnes each, were originally too light to pass braking tests, so the DOE welded steel plates onto them until they were heavier than a loaded Atlas. The agency now describes this as «a permanent solution to a temporary problem».
Local residents have grown accustomed to the train passing every forty minutes. A nearby diner has added a menu item called the Atlas Breakfast, served only when the escort car's armed guards wave.