Editorial: Accidents: like death and taxes

Thursday, May 30, 2002 | 8:53 a.m.

To Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, to Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, and to all the others who have blithely stated that transportation of high-level nuclear waste by highway, barge and rail is safe, please note this news just from the last couple of days: In Oklahoma, a dozen cars traveling on Interstate 40 plunged into the Arkansas River after a barge struck a bridge; in Michigan, the 2,200 residents of Potterville had to be evacuated after a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed; in the Texas Panhandle, two trains collided head-on, killing one and injuring three others.

In Oklahoma, it was tragic enough that the barge accident killed at least 14 people. Imagine if the barge had been hauling nuclear waste, or if a truck carrying the lethal load had been passing over the bridge at the time of impact. How safe would the nation feel if a couple of tons of radioactive waste were submerged in the Arkansas River? In Texas, the Forth Worth Star-Telegram reported that the collision caused the trains to "erupt into a fireball that burned for several hours." The casks that will carry the waste -- could they emerge unscathed from such an inferno? In Michigan, the Lansing State Journal quoted a fire captain as saying, "Nothing like this has ever happened here, there's no way you can plan for this." Two of the derailed cars were carrying sulfuric acid and nine were loaded with liquid propane. If such dangerous materials can be derailed near a populated area, why are federal officials so confident it could never happen with nuclear waste?

Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas are all prominent on the maps showing proposed routes for the 77,000 tons of waste from nuclear reactors the federal government plans to ship to Yucca Mountain. If the plan goes through, we guarantee there will be another fire official somewhere, someday, saying, "Nothing like this has ever happened here ..."

The stark truth is: Accidents happen. Nuclear shipments are not above the law of averages.