NEVADA’S REACTION TO THE TOW MISSILE TEST

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· Clearly shows the vulnerability of spent fuel transport casks to terrorism.

· Proves that the nuclear industry’s public representations about the ability of such casks to survive terrorist threats are wrong.

· Illustrates that moving spent nuclear fuel by truck and rail to Yucca Mountain creates a genuine national security concern.

u DOE plans roughly 100,000 spent fuel shipments over a 38-year period over numerous routes through 44 states.

u Casks cannot practically be shipped with a heavy concrete barrier; casks already weigh up to 120 tons

· DOE’s Yucca Mountain program Director admitted recently that DOE has not evaluated the terrorist threat posed after September 11 by the transport of spent fuel casks.

· Nevada’s independent studies project over 100,000 deaths could result from a single worst-case spent fuel cask breach near a major city.

· Congress should investigate the circumstances of this test and who was aware of it, and should order similar testing with TOW and other armor-piercing weapons of any other casks proposed for spent fuel transport to Yucca Mountain.