Radioactive Russian roulette

By Kevin Kamps

posted February 24, 2006

The nuclear power industry and its friends in Washington want to build the first new reactors in 30 years. But to do so, the illusion of a “solution” to the radioactive waste dilemma must be maintained. A growing mountain of lethal atomic waste — currently 55,000 tons — has piled up at scores of atomic power plants in dozens of states, with nowhere to go. It is stored in stopgap facilities such as indoor pools and outdoor silos. Last summer, the National Academies of Science (NAS) reported that the wastes are vulnerable to terrorists and are essentially radioactive bull’s eyes risking catastrophic downwind releases if attacked. Expanding such targets undermines national security.

Tragically, the NAS “solution” to these sitting-duck reactor waste sites is to multiply these targets by tens of thousands. Instead of recommending that waste be safeguarded and secured against accident and attack where it is, NAS now advises that the waste be rushed onto our roads, rails, and waterways. In a report on waste transport published Feb. 9, NAS whitewashed the dangers of the weakest link of the nuclear fuel chain: moving waste by truck, train, and barge through 45 states, within a half mile of the homes, places of work and worship, schools, and hospitals of 50 million residents.

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