NRC plans to test nuke casks

Suzanne Struglinski

Tuesday, May 11, 2004 | 11:22 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will test special containers used to ship nuclear waste via train to try to help assure the public they are safe, but Nevada officials say the latest proposal still falls short of what actually needs to be done.

In a May 5 memo to their operations staff, the three commissioners asked for a demonstration test plan for rail shipping containers, called casks, and authorized buying one of the casks to use for the test.

Scaled-down versions of the casks have been tested, and computer modeling of a test has been conducted, but actual live-scenario tests have not been required. Last year the commission decided to move ahead with a "full-scale" test, accepted public comments on the plan and gave the commissioners several options to evaluate in February.

After going through all of the options, the commissioners asked for a rail cask-test plan now and for a truck cask-test plan to be conducted after the Energy Department decides on a truck cask design. The commissioners did not specify whether the rail casks tested would be those used to ship nuclear waste to the proposed nuclear waste storage site at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The memo only says the plan should include a "realistically conservative" train traveling at 75 mph and a "fully-engulfing fire." The test will only be done on one rail cask and should be designed so only one test is needed for all rail casks. All other details will be left up to the staff to figure out but the commission will have to approve the final test plan.

The memo infuriated Bob Halstead, Nevada's transportation consultant, because it leaves too many questions unanswered and contains little of what the state wants.

"Bottom line, we know there will be truck shipments to Yucca Mountain," Halstead said. "This is an exercise in futility."

The department has selected the "mostly rail" option to bring waste to Yucca, if it gets approved, but trucks will need to bring waste to rail lines from reactors not close enough to the trains and may have to be used in Nevada if a proposed rail line in Caliente is not finished prior to the opening of the repository.

Nevada wants to see all casks that could bring waste to Yucca fully tested, meaning actually engulfed in flames, dropped on a hard surface and potentially punctured, and immersed in water to standards set by the commission and tested to failure. The staff proposal could still include those additional tests but they were not requested by the commission.

"We deserve better, we deserve a clear decision here," Halstead said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is working on a bill that would require the testing of the casks until destruction and include simulated terrorist attacks on the casks as well.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., wants to see full-scale tests beyond just accident scenarios, spokesman David Cherry said. It is an "unreasonable omission" that terrorist threats or anything beyond a fire or crash test will be done, Cherry said.

Berkley, Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., introduced a bill in July calling for planning against terrorist threats against shipments to Yucca. Six additional House members have signed onto the bill, but it has not moved anywhere.

The bill would require the Homeland Security Department and Federal Emergency Management Agency to work with the National Research Council to create full scale cask and model tests that would include weapons.

The nuclear industry does not believe full-scale testing is necessary since tests have been done, and shipments of spent fuel already take place without any problems.

Edward Wilds, co-chair of the Council of State Government's Northeast High Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Task Force said at a National Academy of Science meeting last week that he does not support full-scale testing "just to do it" and that he was comfortable with the models used to determine if a cask is safe.

"I don't feel there is an absolute need for full-scale testing," Wilds said.

Live tests last took place during the 1970s and 1980s at the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico.

The lab ran a truck carrying a container into a concrete wall at 80 mph. Another test dropped a container 2,000 feet and in a third test a truck carrying a cask was hit by a train.

The full results of the tests have not been publicly released, but the analysis showed the containers would not have released radiation, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's trade group.

Another test, done by a private company, showed an anti-tank rocket could penetrate a cask.

William Miller, a nuclear engineering professor at the University of Missouri, Columbia, said the results from the tests will be useful, but he thinks it is just a confidence builder and has more public value than proving more science facts.

He said there are some differences between the casks, but the basic design criteria for the casks are the same. He said there should be some testing, but much of that testing would be repetitive.

"There is not a lack of science on them (the casks)," he said. "You don't need have to experimentally benchmark everything that you do."

Halstead said there are at least four types of rail casks so far that could bring waste to Yucca, each with different designs and systems that work to keep radiation inside the cask. The state wants to see all four rail cask designs tested and at least one truck design tested.

"There isn't one that is truly representative of all," Halstead said.

Halstead said the department has truck cask designs but since none have been ordered, none has been built yet.

Other casks that have yet to be developed can also move waste to Yucca and should be tested when they are ready. The commission should order one and get it tested, even before the rail cask, he said.

As for cost, Halstead said Nevada estimates multiple tests can be done on the different casks for $40 million to $70 million. The NRC, however, estimated only one type of test can be done for $35 million to $40 million, though the commission has offered no justification for the high cost.

Halstead said the state is considering going to Congress to show the difference between the cost estimates to have them force the different tests to be completed.