Safeguards for Nuclear Waste Called Insufficient

Sep 11 - Las Vegas Review - Journal

The Bush administration has not done enough to make nuclear waste "terrorist-proof" at power plants where the highly radioactive material is stored indoors in deepwater pools and outdoors in heavy casks, several lawmakers and safety advocates said Thursday.

"I have a (security) clearance and with all the briefings I have had with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and they have been numerous and in my office, I have yet to get a clear idea of what exactly the government is doing to secure these sites," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.

Berkley and three other Democrats said the Bush administration has not heeded recommendations in reports from the National Academy of Sciences and scientists who advocate further "hardening" of nuclear power plants.

A coalition of public interest groups including Public Citizen and the Union of Concerned Scientists called for utilities to remove some of the used fuel assemblies now being kept in deepwater vaults at power plants and move them instead into reinforced concrete and steel "dry cask" containers.

The groups say the containers should be further shielded by earth or gravel berms and steel or concrete caps.

Berkley added there has been little apparent progress in studies of the security threats that might be posed in transporting nuclear waste from reactors to the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain.

"We have an administration that talks a good game when it comes to national security and has done very little in the ensuing five years to provide our citizens with true national security," Berkley said.

An NRC official said contrary to the criticism, the agency took steps to tighten security at nuclear waste sites after the 2001 attacks.

Based on security assessments, the agency believes that nuclear waste is secure in pools and in the dry containers as they are presently configured, spokesman Dave McIntyre said.

"The pools are hardened structures," McIntyre said.

As for shifting more used fuel from pools into concrete containers, "We have looked at it from a security standpoint and we don't believe there is that need," McIntyre said. "We feel the fuel is equally safe in pools and in casks."