VIDEO/PHOTO OPPORTUNITY:
Full-size mock high-level nuclear waste truck cask (20 feet long, 8 feet tall) on a trailer with banners, traveling across America's heartland
Washington, D.C. — Like a Paul Revere ride of the Atomic Age, the Nuclear Information & Resource Service (NIRS) will haul a mock nuclear waste cask across eight States to warn Americans about the dangers of high-level radioactive waste transportation. The "Radioactive Roads and Rails" ride will kick-off at the Cook nuclear plant in Michigan, travel along targeted high-level waste transport routes across Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah, and culminate at Yucca Mountain, Nevada — site of the proposed permanent national repository for high-level atomic waste. The cask tour will arrive at Yucca Mountain on August 6th, the 55th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and will join a commemoration event at the nearby Nevada Nuclear Weapons Test Site.
"Comparing these high-level atomic waste shipments to the Hiroshima bomb gives an idea of just how much harmful radioactivity is inside," said Kevin Kamps, nuclear waste specialist at NIRS. "Each truck cask could hold up to 40 times the long-lasting, deadly radiation that was released by the Hiroshima bomb; each train cask could hold up to 200 times what was released at Hiroshima. The American people don't deserve these lethal shipments, especially to an earthquake-riddled, inappropriate site in Nevada."
Transport analyses developed by the State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects as well as by the U.S. Department of Energy show that tens of thousands of truck and train shipments would traverse 43 states–past the homes of 50 million Americans–over three decades if the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain were to open. Recent legislation in the U.S. Congress would have launched shipments to Yucca Mountain as early as 2007, but President Clinton vetoed the bill. If the private, nuclear industry-initiated Skull Valley, Utah dump is approved by the NRC, shipments could hit the roads and rails as early as 2003.
"Rushing the launch of these shipments makes no sense, because the proposed dump sites are not suitable," said Michael Mariotte, NIRS executive director. "Yucca Mountain is an earthquake zone that leaks water like a sieve. Burying the waste there would virtually guarantee that massive amounts of radiation would escape into the environment, contaminating the air and ground water. The nuclear industry's scheme at Skull Valley, Utah is even more rushed, and smacks of the worst type of NIMBYism (Not In My Bad Yard). These nuclear utilities know how dangerous their lethal garbage is, and they'll do anything to move it off their land, including trying to buy off a small, destitute band of Native Americans, who already are reluctant caretakers to some of the nation's most toxic residues. The nuclear industry should be hanging its head in shame."
"Transporting this toxic trash is inherently dangerous. Emergency responders across the nation are not adequately prepared, trained, nor equipped to deal with a high-level radioactive waste accident," said Kamps. "Our goal is to meet with emergency responders, public officials, business people, and concerned citizens across the country, to educate them about the dangers they may face, and how they can act to protect their communities."
Experts on the dangers of high-level radioactive waste storage, transport, and disposal will join the cross-country tour at numerous stops along the route. The speakers bureau includes Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, of Radioactive Waste Management Associates in New York City; Judy Treichel of Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force; geologist Steve Frishman and nationally-recognized radioactive waste transportation consultant Bob Halstead.
"High-level radioactive waste shipments in Germany and elsewhere have brought out tens of thousands of protestors from all walks of life," said Mariotte, who witnessed such shipments in Germany in 1997 and 1998, when they were halted. "For the past three years, we've been laying the groundwork for massive protests in the U.S. if these shipments ever occur. People will act to protect their communities; our goal is to ensure these actions occur in a disciplined, non-violent, effective fashion. Not a single shipment will be allowed to pass without substantial public protest. But we're all better off if the government can just admit Yucca Mountain is unsuitable, and no atomic waste ever will be transported there."
Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Project also is conducting Radioactive Roads and Rails educational events this summer in California, Colorado, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. Contact Lisa Gue at (202) 454-5118 (lisa_gue@citizen.org) for more information.
The Radioactive Roads and Rails campaign kicks off a summer of action, including demonstrations in Philadelphia at the GOP National Convention and action camps in August in New England and the Great Lakes Region.
Regularly updated photos and diary entries from the Radioactive Roads and Rails tour will be available at NIRS' website: http://www.nirs.org. Kevin Kamps and members of the speakers bureau will also be available for interviews, whether by phone or in person. Contact Kevin at 301-270-6477 or kevin@igc.org to arrange interviews.
A full schedule of the tour is available from NIRS upon request.