Shortly before 10 a.m. on Wednesday, a Union Pacific Railroad train derailed in Wells, Nevada, near Elko, which is in the far northeastern part of our state.

A Union Pacific spokesperson says more than 20 rail cars were involved. There were no injuries.

The accident closed, for a while, Interstate 80.

Here's what worries democrat Susie Lee, who talked to me today on our regular chat with our DC Delegation called “Connect to Congress.”

“Let's just imagine if that accident happened on the railway behind the Strip and what the impact would be, not just on Las Vegas and Nevada, but more importantly on our economy,” Congresswoman Lee told me.

In a nutshell, that's one of Nevada's warnings against bringing nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, the mothballed nuke waste dump next door in Nye County.

Accidents happen, Nevada worries, although the energy department says it transports nuclear waste safely.

“My team has been in contact with the Federal Railroad Administration as we continue to monitor the situation,” said Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nevada. “This is just another example of why it would be so dangerous to transport tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste to Nevada.”

On this train, there was no nuke waste. Union Pacific says the part that derailed was carrying vegetable oil.

There were munitions on board, but the Elko County sheriff says they were at opposite ends of the train, away from the derailment. The Defense Department’s Joint Munitions Command says the train was carrying ammunition to the Hawthorne Army Depot.

The railroad tells News 3 the train was headed to Nevada from Nebraska.

But for Lee, today is a lesson. She says if yucca someday opens, and a nuke accident was to happen, “You're a convention planner sitting in Minnesota trying to decide, do I go to Orlando or do I go to Las Vegas? You're gonna choose Orlando, and that's gonna happen again and again. It's gonna have a devastating impact on our community.”