i think i can, i think i can , i think i can.....

[Guest guest]

Reservations on the Nuclear Train The Bush/Cheney energy plan has breathed new

life into the nuclear industry -- but we still don't know where the waste will

go, or how it will get there safely.

by Brooke Shelby Biggs August 17, 2001

 

 

 

When a train carrying hydrochloric acid derailed and caught fire in a tunnel

near Baltimore last month, a silent tremor of fear must have shivered through

the boardrooms of nuclear-energy corporations. Nuclear executives know, as few

Americans do, that the train could theoretically have been carrying radioactive

material; the Department of Energy has approved the use of that track for

transport of high-level nuclear waste.

 

Trains loaded with highly radioactive waste from nuclear plants will be rolling

across the American heartland sooner than most people may realize, in large part

because the Bush administration intends to re-emphasize nuclear power as part of

its energy plan. But more nuclear plants and increased production at existing

plants means more waste, which presents a sticky problem for the government and

its friends in the energy industry.

 

It's been about three decades since the US began producing significant amounts

of energy from nuclear fission, but the country has yet to decide on a long-term

storage solution for the resulting waste. And assuming, as most experts do, that

the controversial storage facility at Yucca Mountain is approved, how will the

waste get there? Or to the private storage facility proposed for the Skull

Valley Goshute Indian reservation in Utah? The US Department of Energy may be

sending it via train (or truck) through a town near you.

 

Critics of so-called " nuke trains " point out that train derailments in general

are on the rise, and there have been dozens of serious " incidents " involving

spent fuel shipments since 1949. By some calculations, the contents of a single

container of spent nuclear fuel could release as much radioactivity as 200

Hiroshima bombs.

 

Nuclear industry scientists say safety precautions make the chances of a

container breaking open and leaking, even in a serious train wreck, minute. But

the Baltimore accident raises questions about their assurances. Casks designed

for transport of radioactive waste are built to withstand temperatures of as

much as 1,475 degrees for up to 30 minutes. The Baltimore Sun reported that the

Baltimore train burned at temperatures as high as 1,500 degrees for several

days.

 

There is also the real threat of terrorism against trains carrying such

dangerous cargo -- what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission calls " radiological

sabotage. " At a 1996 counter-terrorism symposium in Las Vegas, researchers

presented a report on the risks of terrorism and sabotage against nuclear

spent-fuel shipments to Yucca Mountain, and urged the NRC to " completely

reexamine " their estimates of a terrorist threat.

 

In Europe, controversy over nuclear waste transport has resulted in massive

protests, culminating this year with demonstrators chaining themselves to the

tracks. Only " the biggest security operation since World War II " allowed

authorities to clear a path for the train. The hubbub spread through Europe; now

London is considering an outright ban on nuclear shipments over the city's

trouble-prone rails.

 

On this side of the Atlantic, a growing alliance of activists is betting that if

Americans -- especially those who live in the towns on the designated rail lines

-- knew of the potential dangers, they too would take to the streets in protest.

A shipment of spent fuel from New York to an Idaho processing plant planned for

this year may " be the first of tens of thousands of shipments " the federal

government would like to see approved, Kevin Kamps, an organizer for the Nuclear

Information and Resource Service, told Newsweek. In Springfield, Ill., which is

on the New York-to-Idaho route, residents in the past protested shipments of

napalm through their town. Anti-nuke organizer David Kraft told the Evansville

Courier Press, " This stuff makes napalm look like cupcakes. "

[Guest guest]

Fraggle

 

I notice the poor old Native Americans are getting the rubbish again!

 

Jo

 

> It's been about three decades since the US began producing significant

amounts of energy from nuclear fission, but the country has yet to decide on

a long-term storage solution for the resulting waste. And assuming, as most

experts do, that the controversial storage facility at Yucca Mountain is

approved, how will the waste get there? Or to the private storage facility

proposed for the Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation in Utah? The US

Department of Energy may be sending it via train (or truck) through a town

near you.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/25/01 7:24:54 AM Pacific Daylight Time, Heartwork writes:

 

 

I notice the poor old Native Americans are getting the rubbish again!

 

Jo

 

 

why, wot ever do you mean???

the european settlers gave the native americans the best land that the europeans didn't want, well, until they discovered gold or silver or coal or a nice view...but still..and took over all that horrid land teeming with wildlife and such...did em a favor really....i mean with stories of bird flocks blackening the skies, and fish schools so thick you could walk across em, think of the health hazards....why, all that bird poop falling from the sky..and and......

 

p.s. don't mind me...i just got from several days camping and i think i'm a little sun dazzled..

*wanders around aimlessly*

 

fraggle