Thursday, Oct. 9, 2003 | 9:48 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- The lack of communication involved in a radioactive waste shipment this week illustrates safety concerns for the proposed Yucca Mountain federal nuclear waste storage site, project critics said Wednesday.
Consumers Energy started shipping a 565,000-pound package filled with concrete and a nuclear reactor vessel on Tuesday from the closed Big Rock Point nuclear power plant in Charlevoix, Mich., to a low-level radioactive waste storage facility in Barnhill, S.C., company spokesman Tim Petrosky said.
The nuclear reaction that boils water to generate steam for electricity took place in the vessel before the plant closed in 1997. Although still hazardous, it is not as radioactive as the spent fuel rods set to go to the Yucca site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The truck carrying the vessel broke an axle en route between Charlevoix and Gaylord, Mich., and it pulled over to the side of a road, where it was fixed.
The company then parked the truck Tuesday night near a gas station -- that also serves as a bus stop for 13 elementary and high school students -- until the waste can be transferred to a train that stops in Gaylord. The truck was still there this morning. Company officials expected the transfer to take two to four days.
Yucca critics say the lack of communication surrounding the incident does not speak well for the future when thousands of shipment of even more dangerous material could move to Nevada. Kevin Kamps, nuclear waste specialist for the Nuclear Information Resource Service in Washington, said many local officials were left out of the notification process, especially on the exact nature of the shipment and its whereabouts.
Doug Francis, associate transportation supervisor for the school bus system, knew from watching the local news that the shipment was coming through but did not know it would be located at the bus stop until the local newspaper called him.
He called the state police, who also knew of the shipment but could not give any information out and referred him to the company. It was too late on Tuesday to change the bus route, but Wednesday's route moved to another location "to ease public concern," he said.
Jon Deming, Otsego County chief of Emergency Services and Rescue, said he was not officially notified by the company but learned of the shipment through Otsego County Sheriff James McBride at a Local Emergency Planning Committee meeting last month.
Deming said he recognized the need to keep the shipment information secure, but he is also in charge of 25 full-time trained first responders who would not have known what was in the container if anything had happened.
Kamps said low-level waste is still radioactive and that the general public should have been notified that this was moving through their town.
"How much sense does it make in a post (Sept. 11, 2001) world to park this thing near a gas station?" Kamps said, saying a flame or spark could have started a fire that would have led to bigger problems.
"It's much less radioactive (than waste set for Yucca) but it does beg the questions and make you wonder what's ahead."
Petrosky said the shipment meets all of the appropriate standards and all of the necessary permits had been obtained before the shipment started. He said an emergency plan was in place and people had been notified.
"Mr. Kamps found a couple of people who didn't get a phone call and got upset," Petrosky said. "He's just trying to make things sound bad."
Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Sue Gagner said the shipping container was approved and a commission inspector has monitored the movement.
During the early leg of the shipment on Tuesday, the one of the heavy hauler's eight axles broke, leaving four wheels useless. Petrosky said the problem was fixed and the shipment continued with 140 as opposed to 144 tires. Ganger said an NRC inspector also checked to make sure it could move forward.
"I say with confidence that no member of the public will pick up any dose with this," Petrosky said.
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