Del Papa asks nuke agency to review anti-terrorism plan

Friday, June 25, 1999 | 11:07 a.m.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa asked for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to review and strengthen its 20-year-old rules on terrorist threats to nuclear shipments.

In a 30-page petition sent Thursday, Del Papa said the threat of sabotage, domestic terrorism and new powerful armor-piercing weapons warrants the review and a new rule by the commission to protect public health and safety.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has the responsibility under federal law to certify that shipping containers and other parts of the transportation system used to ship nuclear materials and highly radioactive waste can protect the public and the environment.

After the World Trade Center bombing in New York City and the Oklahoma City domestic terrorism incident, Del Papa said, it is time for the commission to review its transportation rules.

"It has been nearly two decades since the commission reviewed the regulations designed to ensure the physical protection of spent fuel shipments and we believe that many of the assumptions these rules are based upon no longer reflect the real world conditions," she said.

One of those changed conditions is the study of Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as a national nuclear waste repository. The Department of Energy, which is responsible for Yucca Mountain, and commercial shipping container manufacturers are considering placing four times the amount of nuclear waste currently allowed in each container to reduce the number of shipments required, Del Papa said.

New, larger casks may need to be made of lighter weight metals in order to meet legal weight limits on highways and rail lines. That could make the containers weaker and shipments more vulnerable to attack, she said.

Del Papa said she realizes that the commission is not obligated to review its regulations.

However, the FBI and other security agencies have told state officials that the NRC review is warranted, Bob Loux, director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, said.

"Although they did not want to come out publicly and say so, security officials are worried about increasing domestic terrorism," Loux said.

The state's nuclear waste transportation consultant wrote an extensive report in 1997 about the damage terrorism could do to a radioactive waste shipment.

Transportation expert Robert Halstead's report noted a nuclear accident or terrorism incident could contaminate 8 acres with a radioactive release.

With traffic choking the streets and freeways of Las Vegas and development booming along the transportation routes, that 8-acre danger zone could become disastrous, the report concluded.

Weapons that could blast a 6-inch hole in a nuclear waste cask include M72 anti-tank launchers, the Superdragon anti-tank missile, the TOW anti-tank missile, the Milan anti-tank missile and the RPG-7 anti-tank weapon, used by guerrilla armies around the world, the study said.

The report recommended extensive tests by both the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but neither agency has acted on the recommendations. The DOE is considering terrorism in its plans for a Yucca Mountain repository. The repository, if it passes scientific muster, would not be complete until 2010. Del Papa said the petition should convince the commission to assess safeguards and security threats to see if new precautions are necessary.

"I would encourage other states, local governments, Indian tribes and public interest groups concerned about the security and safety of nuclear materials transportation to join with us in this rule-making process," she said.