Shipping nuclear waste is irresponsible

By Jim Hall

WASHINGTON -- Sending as many as 100,000 rail, truck and barge shipments to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump without a transportation plan is irresponsible.

Before Sept. 11, transporting high-level nuclear waste through our cities and towns posed significant risks. After Sept. 11, those risks have multiplied, because each of these shipments has the potential to become a massive dirty bomb in the hands of terrorists.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Energy has utterly failed to address the potentially catastrophic risks associated with these potential shipments on our roads, rails and waterways. The U.S. Senate should reject this poorly planned project.

The DOE has neither finalized modes or routes nor not informed those living and working near potential routes. The appropriate federal agencies have not conducted full-scale tests of the containers that would be used for shipments. And the DOE has no plan to assess the risk of human error, which is responsible for over 80 percent of all accidents.

Even more alarming, DOE has not re-evaluated the risk of terrorist attacks on shipments. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's recent testimony that the Department of Energy is "just beginning to formulate its preliminary thoughts about a transportation plan" is simply not good enough.

In the post-Sept. 11 world, nearly every federal agency has re-evaluated its preparedness to deal with terrorist attacks and has adopted new measures to counter this new threat. The DOE, however, has not re-examined the potential terrorist threat against high-level nuclear waste shipments to a national repository.

We know that terrorists view nuclear material as a weapon of choice and that they have made efforts to obtain it. Each transport container will carry enough radioactive material to create a massive dirty bomb that could contaminate many square miles and endanger thousands. Terrorists could target any one of tens of thousands of shipments. We should not proceed with plans for a repository without a full transportation risk assessment.

Accidents could be just as devastating as a terrorist attack. DOE expects 66 truck accidents and 10 rail accidents over the first 24 years of shipments. Other experts estimate 150 truck or 360 rail accidents over 38 years. Recent accidents like the barge crash in Oklahoma that collapsed a section of Interstate 40 sending trucks and cars into the Arkansas River are a stark example of what can happen.

With the government and other experts telling us that without a doubt accidents will occur, the next question becomes: How bad will it be? The straightforward answer is that we are talking about high-level radioactive material that if released will have long-term devastating effects.

The only thing that protects the children and families along these routes during an accident or terrorist attack are the shipping containers. Unbelievably, no government agency -- not the Department of Energy, not the Department of Transportation and not the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- requires that shipping casks undergo full-scale tests. DOE and the nuclear industry oppose mandatory full-scale testing.

Before transportation vehicles are allowed to carry passengers or cargo, they undergo vigorous tests for crash-worthiness, structural integrity and engineering reliability. This type of full-scale testing should also be required for nuclear waste shipping casks before we even think of putting them on trucks, barges, and trains moving through our communities.

The American people deserve and should demand that the U.S. Department of Energy submit a comprehensive transportation plan and demonstrate that shipments can be made safely and securely. To ensure the health and safety of tens of millions of American put at risk by the Department of Energy's lack of a transportation plan, the U.S. Senate should oppose moving forward with the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain.

Jim Hall is a member of the National Academy of Engineering's Committee on Combating Terrorism and was the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board from 1993 to 2001.