You can read the supporting documents in docket NRC-2016-0231-0187 and submit your comments online to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission at https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=NRC-2016-0231-0187 through 11:59 PM, Friday, October 19, 2018.
Waste Control Specialists (WCS) has revived their license application to transport dangerous high-level radioactive waste to Texas from reactors throughout the United States. WCS has joined with ORANO, calling themselves Interim Storage Partners. WCS wants to store 40,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste above ground in Andrews County in West Texas for up to 100 years. Holtec International, the nuclear storage company in New Mexico, wants to store up to 173,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste for up to 120 years at a site between Hobbs and Carlsbad, New Mexico. Transporting the tons of waste will take thousands of rail shipments over 20 years.
High-level radioactive waste is made of fuel rods from nuclear reactors. They contain most of the original plutonium, uranium and other radionuclides that are a million times more radioactive than the original fuel.
The safest solution for storage of high-level radioactive waste is to keep it at the sites where it was produced until a permanent storage site has been identified.
Transporting high-level radioactive waste creates a risk from leaks, accidents and terrorist actions. One rail car can carry as much plutonium as the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. At one time, the trains could haul as many as ten rail cars with waste close to homes, schools, businesses, health care facilities and military bases. Exposure to radiation causes cancers, genetic damage and birth defects. Exposure to unshielded spent fuel rods is lethal. The consequences for sabotage could be devastating to health and the environment.
The waste that will be stored at the two sites will be transported by rail, and sometimes transported on the public highways, through Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Midland, El Paso, the Albuquerque region and the rural areas between these cities. The waste could endanger 218 million people living within 50 miles of railroad tracks across the country. The potential danger to the public and the environment could be devastating as has happened with other nuclear accidents.
One major problem is that if the dangerous waste is stored for the proposed periods of time, the Texas and New Mexico waste sites could easily become de facto permanent disposal storage sites, because no permanent storage site has been identified and approved. The waste must remain isolated from people and living things in nature for literally a million years. A permanent storage site needs to be identified and evaluated with the most up-to-date science before the waste is moved from the sites where it was created. Texas taxpayers do not know about this proposal and have not had the benefit of public forums to be informed and speak publicly about the waste being transported through their communities and stored at the two locations.
The League recognizes that management of land as a finite resource not as a commodity, since land ownership, whether public or private, carries responsibility for stewardship. The storage site in Andrews County will be unusable for a million years with considerable cost to Texans. The League also supports conservation and wise management of resources. There is a potential for irreversible damage to the land and water resources.
There are considerable concerns about transportation, including the potential negative effects on cities and the potential for terrorists to target waste. Spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is more vulnerable to sabotage or accidents during transportation compared to the storage on a site. There are fewer security personnel and fewer engineered barriers to protect the high-level radioactive waste when it is being transported. The contaminated waste is especially vulnerable to sabotage or accidents when it is near populated centers, according to the TCEQ’s assessment for Texas High Level Radioactive Waste Storage Options. Every effort should be made to protect public health, safety, and the financial well-being of Texas and Texas people.
The League calls for public meetings in places such as Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Midland, El Paso and Andrews County to discuss issues related to possible interim nuclear waste storage in Texas. Additional information could be presented to the public with full disclosure of risks.
The public should be informed about the results of the environmental impact study with the opportunity to make public comments in public meetings and in writing on the draft conclusions in the report.
Questions also remain about potential congressional action that could amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The House passed a bill this year to help reform U.S. nuclear waste management (Greenwire, May 10). It would need to pass in the Senate to move forward, though the outlook is uncertain.
The role of Department of Energy in used fuel management should be clarified.
Another issue is that accidents could happen at any time. Who will be responsible for paying the costs associated with a nuclear waste accident, especially if it permanently damages the environment? Will adequate financial assurances be in place and what agency will enforce the full remediation of the accident site, fragile land areas, such as shorelines of rivers, lakes, streams, oceans and the estuaries, bays and wetlands, rare or valuable ecosystems or geological formations, significant wildlife habitat or unique scenic or historic areas, and areas with significant renewable resource value, such as prime agricultural land, grazing and forest lands? Any of these could be destroyed as a result of an accident.
The League of Women Voters supports and calls for the storage of high-level radioactive waste from commercial reactors at reactor sites where it was created. The disposal of the waste is a national concern, but Texas has a significant concern. There has not been ample and effective opportunities for public participation throughout the state of Texas to express their concerns and receive a report of the proposal.