Risk of Transporting High-Level Radioactive Waste is a Real Halloween Nightmare

SEED Coalition Files New Legal Contention to Halt Dangerous, Unnecessary Transport

AUSTIN, TX -- An alarming recent federal report has prompted a new legal challenge to the licensing of a high-level radioactive waste dump in Texas. [Beyond Nuclear is forwarding this press release on to the media as a courtesy to the SEED Coalition.]

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board’s “Preparing for Nuclear Waste Transportation” report released in September details thirty safety challenges related to transporting spent nuclear fuel across the country, including travel through major U.S. cities. Private companies have applied for licenses to store the nation’s deadly high-level radioactive waste for decades at sites in Texas and New Mexico. Texas and New Mexico residents have raised concerns about the transport risks of this radioactive waste in public forums and in legal opposition to the proposed consolidated interim storage applications. 

“The potential for disaster in transporting and storing the nation’s radioactive waste is worse than any Halloween nightmare,” said Karen Hadden, Executive Director of the SEED Coalition. “The SEED Coalition filed a new legal challenge based on a recent report to Congress that lays out significant issues that need to be resolved. Transport of high-level radioactive waste is too risky and current plans to haul thousands of tons of deadly waste across the country must be halted.” 

The new report to Congress by the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board confirms that stored spent nuclear fuel can go critical.  

“The report confirms that the massive transport of thousands of tons of dangerous spent nuclear fuel across the country is unprecedented,” Hadden said. “The nuclear industry wants us to believe that such transport is routine, but never has so much dangerous nuclear waste been moved on the vast scale proposed, an undertaking that would involve thousands of shipments over many decades. In fact, the report indicates that transport could require 80 years or more, double the time that WCS has suggested in their license application.”

“Significant infrastructure improvements would be needed, and technological challenges are numerous,” Hadden added.

Concerns about the radioactive transport include:

- Some existing radioactive waste can’t be shipped without being put into new containers, and new container designs are needed that haven’t been developed yet. 

- There is no technology in place to fully inspect existing spent nuclear fuel containers and the impacts of shaking and bumping of radioactive materials on railways are not yet fully known.

- Cracked or leaking containers would have to be repackaged but the report points out that cost for even one repackaging facility would be a whopping $1-2 billion.

“The NRC is considering licensing sites in Texas and New Mexico to store the nation’s high-level radioactive waste for decades, which could lead to unsafe de-facto permanent dumps,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, former Director of Public Citizen’s Texas office. “The need for extensive research and the technical hurdles are among many reasons that licensing of centralized storage sites should be halted.”

Current plans would move tons of deadly waste to Texas and/or New Mexico, just to store it in a in a different location, needlessly creating risks from transportation accidents, leaks and potential sabotage. No progress would be made toward permanent waste isolation with this band-aid approach.  In fact, spending billions of dollars this way could stall the development of more robust storage systems and progress toward viable permanent disposal. 

“The focus should be on isolating this waste for the long-term in order to protect all living things, our planet and our economy,” Smith said.

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board report, the SEED Coalition legal filing and expert witness testimony by Bob Alvarez are available at www.NoNuclearWaste.org

Another resource - https://www.nirs.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Cities_Affected.pdf - has maps of 20 of the many major cities that high-level radioactive waste could travel through if this plan is approved

[Attorney Wally Taylor, on behalf of Sierra Club's Rio Grand Chapter, has filed a similar motion in opposition to the Holtec International/Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance, targeted at southeastern New Mexico, 39 miles from the Waste Control Specialists site in western Texas. See the contention posted here.]

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