Nuke cask debate: Test limits or limit tests

Eric Leake

Thursday, March 13, 2003 | 9:07 a.m.

Everybody at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission workshop agreed Wednesday that nuclear waste casks must be tested, but they disagreed on whether to limit the tests or test to the limit.

The daylong meeting at the County Government Center sought public critiques and suggestions on a proposed testing plan. It did not lack for either.

"This is an expensive program. We're trying to get all the input so we can get it right when we carry it out," NRC technical advisor Andrew Murphy said to open the workshop.

"We're also emphasizing the need to accept some level of realism in the test programs," he said.

The casks are intended to be used to transport nuclear waste from around the nation to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The NRC is proposing demonstration tests not to certify casks -- they already simulate with models and computers a separate series of criteria for certification -- but to improve public confidence in cask safety and support earlier simulations through trial of impact and fire.

Full-scale truck and railway casks would be dropped from more than 250 feet, reaching speeds of 75 mph before slamming into reinforced concrete. The rail cask would hit at an angle, and the truck cask on its side in a simulated "back-breaker."

The commission's test draft brought a series of criticisms from Nevada representatives on the workshop panel. They faulted the draft's premise and said that though the tests are a start, they do not go far enough.

"I see no evidence of attack by small arms fire, explosives or airplane crash," said John Wells of the Western Shoshone National Council.

"The public doesn't want to know what the canisters can do," he said. "The public wants to know what they can't do."

Wells and others called for the casks to be tested until they failed. Why not take the casks, they asked, as far as possible beyond test parameters to find their limitations?

"By testing to failure, I think we'll learn something useful of those thresholds," said Fred Dilger of the Clark County Nuclear Waste Division.

David Lee, a chemist sitting in the audience, said that to do any less would be a waste of money.

"We probably know the outcome of these tests," he said. "Let's spend the money for something better. "

The NRC estimates testing will cost roughly $20 million. A plan by the state calls for complete full-scale testing of casks prior to certification and would carry a $50 million to $70 million price.

The state also wants test casks dropped on steel spikes and immersed in water.

Casks are currently approved based on scale-model testing and computer simulations. None of the 16 certified casks have been tested full-scale.

"Cask testing is possibly the single most important nuclear waste transportation issue," said Robert Halstead, advisor to Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects and a co-author of the state plan.

Halstead said full-scale testing is tough and is mainly limited by cost. Testing facilities would need to be improved. And when a truck cask weighs 30 tons and a large rail cask up to 150 tons, test supplies are expensive.

But "by continuing to oppose full-scale testing you erode public confidence," Halstead said.

Public confidence is one of the goals of the NRC testing plan. The casks in use are supposed to already be proven safe. But when people see a full-size cask crash into concrete and remain intact, rather than a computer simulation, they may feel better about waste transportation.

Some on the panel questioned that link between public confidence and public safety.

"You need to do more than have an ad campaign," said Peggy Maze Johnson of Citizen Alert. "If you're going to do this, you absolutely must make it as safe as you possibly can."

The spectre of extreme accidents or terrorist attacks prevented some of the attendees from having any confidence in the proposed tests. They asked why the tests had not considered a terrorist attack, the crash of an Air Force jet into a waste shipment or other catastrophes.

"You can control your tests, but you're going to have to deal with God to control your accident," said Judy Treichel of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force.

Robert Titus, a Nevada Test Site veteran of 30 years, said he was unconcerned.

"Everybody here should realize that 99.99 percent of these casks are going to be shipped with no problems," he said. "To try to base your designs around things like that is ridiculous."

John Kessler of the nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute said designing for all such contingencies was not only ridiculous, but impossible.

"We can do a lot of testing under extreme conditions and get something to fail," Kessler said. "I'm just suggesting we do it with a touch of reality."

The NRC apparently believes the military jet crash scenario is a real one, however. It denied a license Monday to a temporary nuclear waste dump in Utah because of the facility's proximity to an Air Force base and jet flight paths.

And Nevada's congressional delegation is highlighting what they say are terrorism risks related to the casks. Last year the delegation released a video showing an anti-tank missile blowing a hole in a cask.

On Wednesday, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., a senior member of both the House Armed Services Committee and Select Committee on Intelligence, called for the NRC to require tests on nuclear waste casks simulating a number of possible terrorist attacks.

"It is critical, in the post Sept. 11 environment, that the Package Performance Study be designed to assess shipping cask vulnerability to terrorism and sabotage," Gibbons said in a letter to NRC chairman Richard Meserve.

Officials fear that terrorists may try to concoct a "dirty bomb," one made with radioactive materials combined with high explosives.

Gibbons urged the NRC to test containers against three types of attack with potential for radiological sabotage. He said attacks against roads or rails, attacks resulting in the capture of a nuclear waste container and direct attacks by antitank missiles or high energy explosives should be examined.

"I have become aware of far too many avenues that are available to terrorists intent on harming Americans," Gibbons said.

The NRC will hold another public meeting tonight in Pahrump at 6 p.m. at the Mountain View casino. They will consider public input in preparing their final testing plan draft, to be published around the end of the year.

Testing will not begin for at least another year or two after that.

Murphy said he expects to make some changes to the draft. He noted testing to failure as of particular concern.