Train Accident in SC Sends Reminder that Nuclear Waste Crash Would Mean Permanent Evacuation
WASHINGTON, DC — The tragic January 6 train derailment that has caused a mass evacuation and eight known deaths to date in the tiny SC town of Graniteville is a sober reminder of the perils of transporting toxic materials. It also sends a clear warning to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), whose ill-advised plan would send high-level radioactive waste casks by rail and truck across the country from the nearby Savannah River nuclear site.
Radioactive nuclear fuel rods and glass waste logs are slated to travel the CSXT railway through metropolitan Augusta, GA en route to the still-disputed Yucca Mountain waste dump site in Nevada, should the dump eventually open. The lines are just 15 miles from the Burlington Northern train collision at Graniteville. Yucca Mountain is currently scheduled to open in 2010 although shipments could start sooner if interim storage is approved either in Nevada or at a site in Utah.
"We send our condolences to the victims of this terrible accident and wish Graniteville residents a speedy and safe return home," said Kevin Kamps, Nuclear Waste Specialist at Nuclear Information and Resource Service in Washington, D.C. "We are already seeing the serious health impacts from Thursday's accident. Fortunately, the people of Graniteville will be able to return to their town. But a similar accident involving high-level waste would mean permanent evacuation of the town, permanent loss of homes and livelihoods and similar if not greater initial casualties."
The DOE plans to send 2,000 rail cars of highly radioactive waste, originating from the Savannah River Site as well as commercial nuclear power reactors, through Georgia and South Carolina under the Yucca Mountain plan. An accident involving radioactive release from high-level waste cask would leave a legacy of cancers and other debilitating diseases in affected communities.
"Putting high-level waste casks on our rails and roads is effectively a Mobile Chernobyl and exposes millions to the potentially catastrophic risks of severe transport accidents and even terrorist attacks on shipments," said Mary Olson, director of NIRS Southeast in Asheville, NC. "The rush to transport high-level radioactive waste through major cities like Augusta should be stopped."
A rail accident remains a probability because nuclear waste shipping containers are not required to undergo full-scale physical safety testing for collisions. The ability of the containers to withstand a high-impact rail collision, especially one involving fire, is therefore not fully known.
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