Dangerous Transport

The Department of Energy (DOE) is predicting that 108,500 shipments of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain will be required over 38 years. However, the exact routes to be used and the method of shipment have not been identified because they don’t want the public to know.

Consequences of an Accident

According to Rail Watch, the number of railroad accidents involving hazardous materials averaged about 33 accidents annually through the 1990s. Approximately 10,000 people a year are evacuated from their homes or affected by contamination from hazardous materials spilled in train wrecks.

According to a report of experts (Lamb & Resnikoff, 2001), a severe rail incident such as the Baltimore rail tunnel fire in July, 2001 would cause thousands of cancer deaths, and cost $10-$14 billion in clean-up costs. According to a 1985 DOE study, a similar accident in a rural area would contaminate 42 square miles and would take over 15 months and $600 million to clean up.

Mixed Rail Transport

The Department of Transportation (DOT) has refused to require that spent nuclear fuel be restricted to dedicated trains. Amazingly, current regulations allow deadly spent nuclear fuel to be shipped in mixed-freight rail cars next to cars carrying flammable and explosive materials. In the event of an incident with flammable or explosive materials, the nuclear transport would be immediately affected.

No place for waste

Every plant generates highly radioactive nuclear waste, and we have no place to safely store it. Currently, much of the spent nuclear fuel is stored in pools of water adjacent to the reactors.   If a pool were accidentally or intentionally drained it could lead to a serious fire spewing highly radioactive material into the air.  A report from Brookhaven National Laboratory found that such an incident could cause as many as 28,000 cancer fatalities, cause $59 billion in damage, and render 188 square miles unfit for habitation.