New Maps from Common Sense Campaign Reveal
Another Cost of New Nuclear Power: Southbound Mobile Chernobyl

On May 22, 33 community-based groups nationwide teamed with Nuclear Information and Resource Service and the Common Sense at the Nuclear Crossroads Campaign to release new maps showing the likely transport routes (road, rail and water) that high-level radioactive waste (irradiated or spent fuel) would take from nuclear power reactors to the federal Savannah River Site in South Carolina for reprocessing, if that location is chosen under the federal Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). Eleven sites are currently under consideration for GNEP; two in South Carolina. Implementation of GNEP would redirect the transportation of this waste, previously assumed to target the flawed and unsuitable Yucca Mountain site in Nevada.

Part of a study by John Sticpewich entitled "A Study of the Problems With Transport and Reprocessing of Nuclear Waste in the Carolinas," the maps were generated using Department of Energy (DOE) data and the on-line DOE routing program, TRAGIS. "Credit analysts on Wall Street have suggested that moving the accumulated high-level waste from the reactor sites would make investment in new nuclear power more likely," said Sticpewich. "This report documents the huge tonnage of radioactive waste that must be dealt with, the very high costs of transporting it, and the potential for impact that such a move would have on hundreds of communities along the way." John Sticpewich did this work on behalf of the Common Sense at the Nuclear Crossroads Campaign based in Asheville, NC. The maps and his report are available at DontWasteSC.com

If implemented, GNEP would move accumulated waste from 75 sites in 33 states. Due to limited resources, the new maps show only a defined "study area:" waste sites that are east of the Mississippi River, and from the Carolinas north. While routes are shown in all states east of the Mississippi, those in MS, AL, GA and FL include only out-of-state waste - the reactors in those states are not included as a points of origin - though they would be under the GNEP program.

"This case study of one scenario and a limited study area includes two thirds of the nation's reactors. It is a good start on looking at the impact of bringing the nation's high-level waste into the South," said Mary Olson, Director of the Southeast Office of Nuclear Information and Resource Service. "Another piece we do not show is a scenario where this deadly waste would first be centralized for storage at a "parking-lot dump" -- a top candidate for so-called "temporary" storage is the Piketon site in Appalachian Ohio" concluded Olson. Piketon is another of the 11 sites being considered under GNEP.

"NIRS coined the slogan 'Mobile Chernobyl' back when Congress weighed shipping this high-level nuclear waste to Nevada to a parking-lot style dump. It refers to the elevated risk of accidents or incident that will travel with this deadly waste if put on the roads and rails," said Kevin Kamps, Nuclear Waste Specialist with Nuclear Information and Resource Service. "The risk of terrorist attack shows that these shipments are potential dirty bombs on wheels or water," says Kamps. "The big news in these maps are the water routes to SRS - the Great Lakes could be hit by many hundreds to thousands of these shipments, along with rivers, canals, and coastlines in every region." Although Yucca Mountain cannot be approached directly by water, DOE proposed barge shipments for segments of transports there as well.

"There are 32 new reactors moving forward, and of these 30 are in the South," said Mary Olson. "In 2005 Congress started talking about reviving the failed, unprofitable reprocessing technology - that would bring the worst nuclear waste to South Carolina. This is a major shift in ‘the deal.' We were told that nuclear waste would not be a problem-effectively it would be dumped on someone else! Now if GNEP goes forward, more of the real cost of those new nuclear power reactors will be clear: nuclear waste would stay here in the South and more would come from all over the country - and possibly the world!" concluded Olson.

Groups participating in the May 22^nd release:

Common Sense at the Nuclear Crossroads (Asheville, North Carolina)
Nuclear Information and Resource Service (Takoma Park, MD and Asheville, North Carolina)
Physicians for Social Responsibility of Western North Carolina
Citizen's Awareness Network (Massachusetts)
Green Party of Onondaga County (New York)
Central New York Citizens Awareness Network
Syracuse Peace Council (New York)
Don't Waste Michigan
Nuclear Energy Information Service (Chicago, Illinois)
Earth Day Coalition (Cleveland, Ohio)
Citizen Action Coalition of Indiana
Yggdrasil/Earth Island (Kentucky)
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
The Canary Coalition (North Carolina)
Nuclear Watch South (Atlanta, Georgia)
Citizens For Environmental Justice (Savannah, Georgia)
Atlanta WAND (Georgia)
Action for A Clean Environment (Georgia)
South Carolina Chapter, Sierra Club
HIPWAZEE (Columbia, South Carolina)
Environmentalists Inc. (Columbia, South Carolina)
Carolina Peace Resource Center (Columbia, South Carolina)
Columbia Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (South Carolina)
Charleston Peace (South Carolina)
Thinking People (Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina)
South Carolina Alliance for Sustainable Campuses + Communities
Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power (Pennsylvania
Energy Justice Network (Pennsylvania)
Don't Waste Connecticut
Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone
North American Water Office, Lake Elmo, Minnesota
Citizen Alert, Las Vegas Nevada
Southern Nevada Group of the Toiyable Chapter of the Sierra Club
NatCap Inc. Colorado

Local Contacts:

Allison Peeler, Carolina Peace Resource Center, 864-357-8965

Leslie Minerd, HIPWAZEE, 803-799-9297

Susan Corbett, Sierra Club of SC, 803-755-6929

NIRS Contact:

Kevin Kamps 301-270-6477 ex 14
John Sticpewich 828-675-1792

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."