Nuclear Safety: Final Opportunity for Citizens to Oppose Nuke Waste Dump
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By The Fairewinds Crew
You heard correctly, this is your last opportunity to tell the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to oppose the storage of nuclear waste at the proposed sites in Texas and New Mexico.
Our friends at Nuclear Information & Resource Service (NIRS) and Sustainable Energy & Economic Development (SEED) Coalition have provided webforms for concerned citizens to submit comments to the NRC in response to Holtec's Consolidated "Interim" Storage (CIS) facilities’ Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).
If you would like to submit comments as an individual, here are links where you can send in webforms, as an individual, prepared by NIRS and SEED Coalition:
SEED Coalition webform: Let the NRC Know That You Oppose WCS' Radioactive Waste Dump
Note: a sample letter can be found at the bottom of this blog!
Fairewinds has looked at waste issues since the early 2000s when we began assessing nuclear power plant sites in light of decommissioning methods and funding. It is clear to us that this rapid fire progression to dump all the US waste in a few places and leave it there for all eternity is unacceptable! We have seen the community problems that evolve from federal atomic power and nuclear weapons waste sites like the Savannah River Site, not far from where we live in Charleston, SC or the Hanford Waste Site near the Columbia River in Washington State. Both sites are legendary for leaking high level waste with no coordinated solution in site, and with no feasible method of handling such waste for more than 75-years!
Additionally, we have looked at and are looking at other sites that were allegedly temporary, and instead, via corporate or government decisions, have become sites that contain leaking waste or were sites where previously there were major radioactive releases by the owners, but none of the nearby communities were given notification.
Fairewinds would like for you to consider the following:
First, there is no regulatory limit for the duration for how long any highly radioactive material will be stored at this location. Therefore, the very title of the application is a misnomer. In reality, this is not “Interim” storage; instead, the duration is actually ‘Indeterminate’. These communities might have this waste for 5 or 10-years or for the entire 250,000 years needed for high-level radioactive waste to decay away. Can you even envision 250,000 years? At Fairewinds we cannot! Granting a license with no statutory end date is part of the corporate nuclear game so that the community forced to accept this waste is unable to create any reliable environmental and safety assessments.
Second, given there is no end date for how long the highly radioactive material may remain on-site, the waste is not being “stored” by any means. Rather, it is being abandoned! Again, the title of the license application is a misnomer.
Third, no matter how they are counted, there would be thousands of waste canisters placed at this location. The contents within each canister are highly radioactive, brittle, physically hot, and extremely corrosive. The likelihood of one or more canisters failing is significant and only increases the longer they remain on-site. The corrosive substances held inside each canister will cause chemical attacks on the canister liner and its welds.
Fourth, the duration of canister "storage" is indeterminate, so the probability of canister failure becomes increasingly likely the longer each canister remains on-site. Therefore, an accident releasing large amounts of radioactivity is quite likely. There has been no opportunity for the community to seek expert evaluation, or for any of the agencies to hold the requisite public hearings, and to take expert witness testimony regarding the consequences of a radioactive release of this magnitude. This is an environmental justice issue for the entire region.
Fifth, no building or facility has been designed or included in this license application in order to facilitate regular inspections and promote any repairs these canisters may incur. In other words, this must be addressed to prevent and mitigate catastrophic leaks and protect the surrounding communities.
Sixth, this is a significant environmental injustice issue! The proposed facility is located in a rural area that is financially impoverished and contains a large minority population. The people living here lack the finances to mount a significant legal defense and also fear retribution from the corporation and its cronies. As in most environmental injustice areas, there will be only low-paying menial jobs for locals while the high-paying supervisory positions will go to privileged classes headquartered elsewhere. The risk to surrounding communities is huge! Furthermore, there are no protections for the local communities and the families who live there.
Seventh, the facility license violates the Waste Policy Act.
And, eighth, locating such a large amount of lethal nuclear material in a single location creates a significant target for terrorists, who may be homegrown nationalists or militia members, like Timothy McVeigh. The community would also be at-risk for an attack by a rogue nation. This risk has not been evaluated in the on-going license application process for the security of the community, the states involved, and our country as a whole.
Therefore, Fairewinds Energy Education adds these brief additional comments to the record and supports comments provided by signatories with NIRS and SEED in opposition to the WCS' Radioactive Waste Dump and massive nuclear transport and licensing of illegal, proposed CIS facilities in New Mexico and Texas.
Sample letter for individuals to make comments to NRC in response to Holtec's CISF DEIS.
Feel free to download!
