Train hoppers show nuke security risks

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, May 2, 2002 | 10:25 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Two young men who fled a North Carolina labor camp briefly hopped a train carrying high-level nuclear waste in March, further illustrating the risks of shipping waste, Nevada lawmakers said.

"The fact that these were just kids, and not trained terrorists, and able to get on the train, even for a brief period of time -- can you imagine if these had been trained professionals?" Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., asked. "That's why we need to study these issues a lot more."

As part of their multi-pronged approach to battling the federal proposal to bury the nation's high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada officials argue that shipping waste cross-country to Nevada is needlessly dangerous. In recent weeks, they have pointed to train accidents in Florida and California.

The March 6 train-hopping incident gives them more fodder for debate, they said.

"This event proves that we can't protect these shipments of nuclear waste," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. "They cannot be defended and they pose a tremendous security risk to the entire country."

Melvin Lee Taylor, 19, and James Whitfield, Jr., 20, were running from Richmond County Sheriff's deputies at about 5 p.m. March 6 after escaping a state-sponsored work camp, county highway patrol spokesman Renee Hoffman said. The two saw the train as it slowed near an intersection in Richmond County near the North Carolina-South Carolina border and decided to jump on, Hoffman said.

One of the men was able to jump onto an empty flatbed car that acts as a spacer on the waste shipment train; the other fell but was unhurt, Hoffman said. She did not know which one fell, and which one had jumped unaware onto a guarded nuclear waste train.

The man who hopped onto the train immediately noticed a gun -- possibly more than one -- pointed at him and security officers began yelling at him. After just 10 or 15 seconds on the train the man jumped off and the two fled again, Hoffman said. They were apprehended in a nearby woods about 30 minutes later.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said, "This is the consummate example of just how vulnerable this toxic nuclear waste is in transport around this country."

But authorities disagree.

"They picked the wrong train," Hoffman said. "The important thing for the public to know is that the security system worked."

According to Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules, nuclear plant officials do not release information about armed security on nuclear waste shipments. Progress Energy officials confirmed that at least one county sheriff's officer was on board. The county sheriff and the company work together on waste shipments. The sheriff had even notified the company to be on the lookout for the two escapees, officials said.

If the man had threatened the waste containers in any way, the train's security officer or officers were prepared to use force to prevent it, a company spokesman said.

"He was absolutely shocked to hop a train and look up to see guys with guns," Progress Energy spokesman Keith Poston said. "From our perspective, the security measures worked."

Still, Nevada officials say they were shocked two young men on foot got that close to the train at all.

In response, Poston said, "It would be virtually impossible to keep everyone away from the train tracks. We obviously can't get into the business of shooting anyone walking near the train tracks."

The train was hauling two cars each loaded with spent nuclear fuel from the Robinson Nuclear Power Plant in Hartsville, S.C., operated by Progress Energy. The train was on its way to another company plant in New Hill, N.C., where the company stores the waste from four Progress Energy nuclear reactors in the Carolinas.