The dangers of radioactive waste transport to nuclear waste dumps

Radioactive Waste Dump Transport Safety, Liability, & Aquifer Concerns in Texas – “LLW” 2011 Mining Awareness Plus, 20 Mar 15 From Public Citizen.org: “Jan. 3, 2011

Federal Judge’s Green Light on
Nuclear Waste Dump Is Bad News for Texans

More Than 6,200 Citizens Flooded Texas Radioactive Waste Commission
With Comments, Concerns About Expansion of Waste Dump…….potential transportation routes would take nuclear waste from the Gulf Coast area on Interstate 10 through Houston and San Antonio; waste from southern states would be trucked on I-20 and I-30 though Dallas and Forth Worth; Midwestern and Northeastern waste would be driven on I-40 and I-27 though Lubbock and Amarillo; and waste from Western states would be driven though the cities of El Paso and Odessa taking I-10 and I-20, according to Martin Resnikoff of Radioactive Waste Management Associates………

The commission proposed rules earlier in 2010 for such an expansion but withdrew them after receiving more than 3,000 comments from the public, most of them adamantly opposed to importation. On Nov. 3, the morning after the elections, the commission announced the rules would be re-posted with only minor changes……….

From Public Citizen.org:
“PUBLIC CITIZEN AND WE TEXANS PRESS RELEASE

Medina’s concern about taxpayer liability is spelled out in the report produced by Public Citizen’s Texas office. It finds that if the Andrews County dump site were to leak, the cleanup cost could be anywhere from three to 50 times the amount set aside by the site operator, Waste Control Specialists (WCS). The report cites two examples of radioactive leaks – one in 1984 in near Karnes City in South Texas between San Antonio and Corpus Christi that garnered a $384 million cleanup bill, and another in 1983 at a site in New York called West Valley with an estimated cleanup cost of $5 billion.

“The people of Texas are at risk from a leak at the site, which is located dangerously near the Ogallala Aquifer and is only 150 feet from known groundwater sources,” said Ali Rawaf, a researcher with Public Citizen who authored the report, “The Repository and the Risks: A Report on the Andrews County Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Site.”

“What’s more, under HB 2184 or SB 1504 we would expect a substantial increase in radioactive transportation accidents, and the state is simply not prepared to deal with that possibility at an emergency response level or at a financial liability level. More than 4,000 trucks a year carrying radioactive waste will soon be rumbling down Texas highways, and if this legislation passes it will mean even more trucks spreading radioactive risk through the state.”

The report claims that in the event of a transportation accident involving radioactive waste, Texas would have only $500,000 available to cover emergency response, health care and property damage costs. Public Citizen says that amount is far too little…….

Read the Full Report:http://www.citizen.org/documents/Radioactive%20Waste%20Disposal%20Report2.pd

https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2015/03/20/radioactive-waste-dump-transport-safety-liability-aquifer-concerns-in-texas-llw-2011/