Background links on the shipment of LIQUID high-level radioactive waste, containing HEU, from Chalk River, Ontario, Canada to SRS, USA

Shipment of Highly-Radioactive Liquid Waste Backgrounder, by Anna Tilman, Vice-President, International Institute of Concern for Public Health

Sierra Club Canada's "Stop the Radioactive Road Trip" action alert

March 2013, U.S. Department of Energy [DOE], EIS-[Environmental Impact Statement]-0279-SA [Supplement Analysis]-01: SUPPLEMENT ANALYSIS, Savannah River Site Spent Nuclear Fuel Management (DOE/EIS-0279-SA-01 and DOE/EIS-0218-SA-06). [See April 5, 2013 DOE Amended Record of Decision, below]

March 5, 2013 blog by Dr. Gordon Edwards of Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsiblity, "Highly Enriched Uranium [HEU] and the Production of Medical Isotopes." (That's the very source of the liquid high-level radioactive waste at Chalk River, medical isotope production, via the unnecessary, and risky, use of HEU.)

March 6, 2013 letter from Anna Tilman, Vice-President, International Institute of Concern for Public Health, to Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver, RE: Shipment of Liquid Radioactive Waste from Chalk River Laboratories to the U.S.

March 11, 2013 Council of Canadians press release, "Council of Canadians joins growing opposition to Highly Enriched Uranium shipment."

March 11, 2013 letter from Council of Canadians to Canadian Department of Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, Canadian Transport Canada Minister Denis Lebel, Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission President Michael Binder, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Allison Macfarlane, U.S. Department of Energy Deputy Secretary Daniel Poneman, and others, RE: Transportation of Highly Enriched Uranium Nuclear Waste in Canada.

March 22, 2013 article by Ian Macleod in the Ottawa Citizen entitled "Trans-border nuclear waste shipment meeting increased resistance." (Includes helpful background information on various aspects of this issue.)

April 2, 2013 article by Ian Macleod in the Ottawa Citizen entitled "U.S. says radioactive waste shipments safe, nixes full environmental assessment."

April 5, 2013, U.S. Department of Energy, EIS-0279: AMENDED RECORD OF DECISION, Spent Nuclear Fuel Management at the Savannah River Site.

April 5, 2013, Beyond Nuclear action alert, "Unprecedented, high-risk shipment of liquid high-level radioactive waste approved by Obama White House," included in Beyond Nuclear weekly email bulletin (include Dr. Gordon Edwards of CCNR's April 1st backgrounder)

House Republican leaders demand Yucca dump be included in irradiated nuclear fuel centralized interim storage bill

Yucca Mountain, as framed by a Western Shoshone Indian ceremonial sweat lodge. Photo by Gabriela Bulisova.As reported by Nuclear Power International/Power Engineering, as well as the Wall Street Journal, U.S. Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), Chairman of the Environment and the Economy Subcommittee of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, holds that the formerly proposed dumpsite targeted at Yucca Mountain, Nevada must be included in any irradiated nuclear fuel centralized interim storage legislation.

Shimkus, as well as U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), have long been outspoken champions pushing for the Yucca dump, as well as many other nuclear power industry "wish list" lobbying priorities. Upton, for example, sponsored "Mobile Chernobyl" bills each and every session from 1995 to 2000, which would have established centralized interim storage at Yucca, long before countless scientific studies were completed, or permanent disposal authorized at the site. Yucca is located on Western Shoshone Indian land (see photo, left), as acknowledged by the U.S. federal government when it signed the "peace and friendship" Treaty of Ruby Valley in 1863.

On Jan. 11th, in response to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu's "Strategy for the Management and Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste," Reps. Upton and Shimkus issued a joint statement calling for the resumption of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Yucca dump licensing proceeding.

However, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), as the senior member of the united, bipartisan Nevada congressional delegation, has devoted his political career to successfully stopping the Yucca dump. President Barack Obama agrees, and DOE Secretary Chu has zeroed out the funding for the Yucca Mountain Project for several years running now. Secretary Chu has also moved to withdraw DOE's application from NRC's moribund licensing proceeding.

Any away-from-reactor scheme -- whether the Yucca dump or so-called centralized interim storage parking lot dumps targeted at such locations as Savannah River Site, SC, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, NM, or Dresden nuclear power plant, IL -- would launch unprecedented numbers of risky irradiated nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste trucks, trains, and barges onto the roads, rails, and waterways.

GSN: "Industry, Activists at Odds Over Security Risks of Interim Waste Storage"

TOW anti-tank missiles can be fired from vehicles, or even shoulder-fired. Large numbers are reportedly loose and unaccounted for on the international black market.In a Global Security Newswire article entitled "Industry, Activists at Odds Over Security Risks of Interim Waste Storage," Douglas P. Guarino quotes Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps about the risks of high-level radioactive waste, including during both on-site storage, as well as during transportation. Kevin referred to a 1998 test conducted at Aberdeen Army Proving Ground in Maryland, which showed that even the so-called "Cadillac of dry casks," the German CASTOR, could not withstand an anti-tank TOW missile attack (TOW is an acronym which stands for "Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire command data link, guided missile"). Most U.S. dry cask systems have much thinner metallic walls than the CASTOR. Kevin reiterated the call by over 150 environmental groups, for Hardened On-Site Storage of irradiated nuclear fuel, rather than a risky, rushed radioactive waste shell game on the roads, rails, and waterways.

GSN: "Watchdog Groups Add to Legal Criticism of Nuclear Waste Review"

Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President of Institute for Energy and Environmental ResearchAs reported by Douglas P. Guarino at Global Security Newswire in an article entitled "Watchdog Groups Add to Legal Criticism of Nuclear Waste Review," a coalition of two dozen environmental groups (including Beyond Nuclear), as well as three states (Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont) are keeping the pressure on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to do a thorough Environmental Impact Statement on the on-site storage risks of high-level radioactive waste, not to mention the transport, off-site storage, and permanent disposal risks of irradiated nuclear fuel. The article quotes one of the environmental coalition's attorneys, Diane Curran, as well as one of its expert witnesses, Dr. Arjun Makhijani (photo, left).

Two dozen groups rebut NEI, supplement comments to NRC on Nuke Waste Con Game

Environmental coalition attorney Diane CurranAn environmental coalition comprised of two dozen organizations, including Beyond Nuclear, today submitted supplemental public comments to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding the agency's court-vacated Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision and Rule. The supplemental comments constituted a rebuttal to comments submitted by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the nuclear power industry's lobbying arm in Washington, D.C.

The coalition held a press conference today, featuring four speakers: Arjun Makhijani, President of Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, one of the coalition's expert witnesses; Diane Curran of the Washington, D.C. law firm Harmon, Curran, Spielberg + Eisenberg, LLP, a lead attorney for the coalition (see photo, left); John Runkle, an attorney with NC WARN (North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network), another coalition member; and Phillip Museegas, an attorney with Riverkeeper, and another expert witness for the coalition, of which Riverkeeper is also a member.

The U.S. federal court of appeals for the D.C. circuit ruled on June 8th that NRC "merely hoped" for a repository someday, and ordered the agency to undertake an environmental impact statement study on the long-term consequences of no repository ever opening, that is the long-term risks of on-site irradiated nuclear fuel storage in pools and dry casks.

Another aspect of crucial study identified by Dr. Makhijani is the performance, after long periods of storage, of so-called "high burn-up fuel," nuclear fuel that has endured a high-level of irradiation. Degradation of high burn-up fuel could make nuclear waste transportation significantly more risky, for example. Currently, there is little to no data on the long-term integrity of high burn-up fuel.

The coalition issued a press release; the full audio recording of the press conference is posted on-line.

The coalition's January 2nd public comments, including expert witness testimonies, are posted on-line. So are the coalition's supplemental comments submitted today, put together in rebuttal to NEI's Jan. 2nd comments.