Rail-sized cask shipment of highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuelSo says an action alert by Public Citizen.
Please help us generate a large number of quality public comments to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in opposition to a 40,000 metric ton irradiated nuclear fuel centralized interim storage facility (CISF) proposed by Interim Storage Partners (ISP) at Waste Control Specialists (WCS) in Andrews County, West Texas. NRC's deadline for public comments on environmental scoping has been extended to November 19th.
The Public Citizen web form linked above is a quick and easy way to do so, and so is the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) web form, linked here.
Beyond Nuclear has also prepared several sets of longer versions of sample comments, each addressing different aspects of the risks involved with the WCS/ISP CISF, which you can use to help write your own, and has provided instructions on how to do so, all posted here.
To get an idea of the road, rail, and waterway routes that would be used, in most states, many major cities, and the vast majority of U.S. congressional districts nationwide, see maps and analyses prepared by the State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects in the context of Yucca Mountain-bound shipments (the further from the American Southwest the highly radioactive waste originates, the more similar to identical the routes will be, whether bound for Yucca Mtn., NV, or the TX/NM borderlands). Barges on surface waters in many states are also in play, as revealed by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2002, with additional potential barge routes revealed by DOE as recently as late 2017. Many, to most, to all of these routes could well be in play, with shipments bound for the WCS/ISP CISF, unless we stop them! WCS even included a map in its license application documents to NRC, showing that most mainline rail in the Lower 48 is also in play. Public Citizen's Texas Office, and SEED Coalition, have also hammered out a best guess map of transport routes to WCS -- forced to do so, because WCS is being so obscure about what the routes actually will be!
Please take action (do one, two, or even all three of the options above -- there is no limit to the number of comments an individual can submit to NRC). And please help spread the word about this important action alert!
To learn more about the WCS/ISP CISF, visit Beyond Nuclear's Centralized Storage and Waste Transportation website sections.