The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) has issued a statment on the Safety and Security Concerns about Derailment of Train Hauling Atomic Waste: Inconsistencies Raise Questions about Emergency Preparedness.
According to Kevin Kamps of NIRS, a train bound for an EnergySolutions facility derailed in Michigan last week. Disturbingly, no one seems to know what the actual contents of the rail cars is. Please read the press release above. We will keep you informed about when this train will be traveling through Utah, and what we will be doing about it. We will be posting articles shortly about the derailment.
More information:
At the Environmental Working Group website, is a link that shows the U.S. Dept. of Energy route map for rail and truck shipments of irradiated nuclear fuel (high-level radioactive waste) shipments if the Yucca Mountain dump in Nevada ever opens.
And check out this incredible website from EWG – you type in any address in the Lower 48, and it shows you how close that address is to a Yucca-bound road or rail route for high-level atomic waste trucks and trains.
Here’s a link to a NIRS fact sheet containing barge routes on Lake Michigan from reactors in WI and MI.
And this Public Citizen fact sheet shows why severe accidents (or terrorist attacks, for that matter) involving such shipments are potentially catastrophic.
More info:
NIRS
Shundahai Network
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 