Saturday, September 17, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Study shows safety of casks
for nuclear waste, NRC says
Agency aims to ease concerns about shipments to Yucca Mountain
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission released a draft study Thursday it claims demonstrates the durability of casks likely to be used to carry nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain.
In 2002, NRC analysts concluded a dual purpose welded cask designed for railroad transport of radioactive spent fuel would survive an intense fire similar to one in the Howard Street tunnel in downtown Baltimore in 2001.
Expanding on that study, the NRC subjected two additional cask types to Baltimore-fire conditions calculated through computer modeling. One was a truck cask, while the other was a rail container. Each type is sealed with bolts instead of welds.
"In all three types of casks, there would not be any release of spent fuel," Earl Easton, senior NRC transportation adviser, said in a briefing on the expanded report.
The study concluded that, for two of the models, it might be possible for a small amount of contaminated metallic residue to flake from spent fuel assemblies, but not enough to be of concern.
Critics of the Yucca Mountain program have focused on the Baltimore fire, charging that it demonstrates the risk facing the government as it plans large-scale shipping of highly radioactive materials to a Nevada repository.
A freight train carrying hazardous liquids, paper products and pulp board derailed in the tunnel. A tank car containing 28,600 gallons of liquid tripropylene ignited, causing a severe fire and forcing a downtown evacuation.
The state of Nevada has commissioned studies that conclude that radioactive particles would have been released into the surrounding neighborhoods if the trapped cars had been carrying canisters of nuclear waste.
Easton said Thursday the NRC believes those studies used outdated assumptions.
Bob Halstead, a transportation consultant for Nevada, said state-hired experts will review and critique the latest NRC study.
