Nuclear Waste Shipments Could Impact Communities Nationwide If Controversial Program Goes Forward

Tuesday, Sept. 14, 1999 | 5:54 a.m.

ASSOCIATED PRESS BUSINESS WIRE

CARSON CITY, Nev. --Will your community be impacted by the federal government's plans to ship tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of tons of deadly spent nuclear fuel and highly radioactive wastes along the nation's highways and rail roads to a questionable facility in Nevada?

If the federal government has its way, you may not find out until the trains and trucks start rolling through town.

On Aug. 6, 1999, the U.S. Department of Energy released a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. While the transportation of deadly nuclear materials throughout the country is an integral part of this program, the draft EIS does little to inform citizens along shipping routes of the dangers and possible impacts.

DOE plans to hold a few hearings in cities/communities around the country to take public testimony about the proposed project. If past history is any indication, however, transportation risks will likely be downplayed as part of a strategy to minimize public concern over threats posed by this project.

In 1995, DOE held a series of scoping meetings to kick off the Yucca Mountain EIS process. In that instance, DOE failed to adequately publicize the hearings and omitted from meeting notices any references to transportation routes and potential impacts on communities along shipping corridors.

Now DOE plans to hold hearings in just seven cites outside Nevada -- Boise, Idaho; Atlanta; Washington, D.C.; Lone Pine, Calif.; Denver; Salt Lake City; and St. Louis. Other areas of the country that will be heavily impacted by waste shipments are being ignored.

Independent analysis of the likely highway and rail routes that would be used for upwards of 80,000 shipments of spent nuclear fuel and highly radioactive wastes from nuclear reactors around the country to a Yucca Mountain repository shows that 43 states will be significantly impacted. Within those states, at least 109 cities with populations over 100,000 will be affected along with thousands of smaller communities.

Maps showing likely nuclear waste transportation routes are attached. They can also be viewed on the World Wide Web at http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/yucca/travel.htm.

To request that DOE conduct a public hearing in your city or community, contact Allen Benson, DOE's Yucca Mountain Project Public Affairs Manager, at 702/794-1411 or Ms. Wendy Dixon, Yucca Mountain EIS Manager at 702/794-5564.