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Reid asks NRC about casks

Tuesday, March 19, 2002 | 11:04 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- As Nevada lawmakers argue that containers used to haul nuclear waste are vulnerable to terrorist sabotage, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to answer pointed questions about container safety.

Reid sent a letter to NRC Chairman Richard Meserve on Monday seeking more information about the design and testing of nuclear waste containers. Under a federal proposal, 77,000 tons of nuclear waste would be shipped in the containers to Nevada's Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, for permanent burial.

"Hauling high-level nuclear waste across our country presents a very real threat to thousands of communities along the shipment routes," Reid said. "My request to Chairman Meserve will help us determine if NRC's testing is valid and accurate in assessing the safety of these containers."

Reid sent his letter to Meserve on Monday after Nevada lawmakers released a videotape of a 1998 test at the U.S. Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in which a missile charge blows a hole in a nuclear waste container.

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