PRESS RELEASE

NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW OPPOSES
TRANSPORT THROUGH  WINSTON-SALEM

Today Triad citizens concerned about nuclear waste transport routes and members of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League met with members of Congressman Richard Burr's district staff and held a press conference highlighting risks associated with the Yucca Mountain Project. 

The Bush administration plans to send highly radioactive waste from all of the nation's nuclear reactors to a site in Nevada.  The groups released maps at the press conference showing transport casks would pass through the Triad.  Department of Energy data reveal that as many as 1800 trucks carrying nuclear waste could travel on I-40.

The Governor of Nevada has vetoed the Yucca Mountain proposal.  When asked about the pending vote in the Senate to override the veto, Oak Ridge mayor Tom Brown said, "My sympathies are with Governor Guinn and the people of Nevada.  Our community has struggled for years to stop the importation of municipal waste to a regional landfill.  Sending all the waste to Nevada just doesn't seem fair."

Using a mock nuclear waste transport cask as a backdrop, the group released a letter presented to Congressman Burr which outlined a series of questions and recommendations. 

BREDL's Lou Zeller, dressed in the orange transport team suit, pointed out that Yucca Mountain will not hold all of the nation's nuclear waste and that North Carolina still has two potential dump sites.  "We have not been given the complete story.  That's why we're here today," Zeller explained.

BREDL staff member David Mickey commented, "The Yucca Mountain dump would be one of the costliest projects in history with a price tag of $58 billion."  Referring to the shortfall in the Nuclear Waste Fund which is dedicated to this project, Mickey said, "Taxpayers will have to foot half of the bill for this dump.  Meanwhile, our other critical needs go unmet."

Next week BREDL's Nuclear Waste Roadshow continues its trek west, joining a national caravan in St. Louis.

Early this year Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended that 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from 103 nuclear reactors be sent to a waste dump at Yucca mountain, Nevada.  President Bush approved the plan.  The state of nevada opposes the $58 billion project. 

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PRESS RELEASE

GROUPS SPOTLIGHT NUCLEAR WASTE TRANSPORT THREATS

Today at a press conference in Asheville, citizens' groups and concerned residents denounced as dangerous and irresponsible the proposed highway and rail shipments of high level nuclear waste through western North Carolina to a dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Physicians for Social Responsibility, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Southeast, and the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League released information about transport routes, terrorist threats, and radiation hazards.

Transportation analyses by the organizations show a significant impact in the mountain region. BREDL’s new transportation report provides examples: “Trains carrying nuclear waste from Catawba would use the Norfolk Southern rail line and travel through Rock Hill, Charlotte, and Gastonia. The shipments would go to Blacksburg and Spartanburg, SC and re-enter North Carolina to follow the French Broad River through Asheville and Marshall bound for Tennessee. Nuclear waste trains from McGuire would use the CSX rail road from Lake Norman through Mount Holly, Bostic, and Marion before leaving western North Carolina. Highway shipments from Catawba would follow a similar route via Interstates 77 North, 85 South, 26 West, and 40 West. Likewise, McGuire truck transports would follow Interstates 77 South, 85 South, 26 West, and 40 West.”

Western NC Physicians for Social Responsibility worry about these transports. Lewis Patrie cited “the risk of road or rail accidents or terrorist attacks severely increasing the likelihood of serious public health emergencies in our communities.” Patire concluded, “Western North Carolina is a crossroad of these shipments, and informed citizens must convince our US Senators to strongly oppose these actions.”

Public health can be threatened even in non-accident scenarios. Mary Olson of NIRS said, “High level radiation would permeate the Yucca Mountain waste containers, making each truck and rail car the equivalent of a rolling x-ray machine that can’t be turned off. Workers and the public will get exposed if they come near these things, and every radiation exposure carries the risk of negative health consequences.”

BREDL’s Louis Zeller detailed the inadequacies of emergency response, including training and equipment needs. Also, he outlined the specific dangers of mountain routes through population centers, steep and unstable terrain, and ecologically sensitive areas.

Zeller displayed a map of the Rocks of the Elk River massif, the crystalline rock formation underlying parts of Buncombe, Haywood, and Madison counties which has never been eliminated from consideration for the nation’s second high level nuclear waste dump. Zeller said, “It is irresponsible for North Carolina’s elected representatives to support the weakening of technological and exposure standards in Nevada. Any state must have the right to say ‘no’ to being dumped on.”

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PRESS RELEASE

REPORT CITES NUCLEAR WASTE TRANSPORT HAZARDS

Today at a press conference in Charlotte the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League released details about shipments of high-level nuclear waste from Duke reactors to a proposed dump in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. BREDL has concluded that these transports will pose unacceptable and unnecessary risks to the public health and the environment of the Charlotte area and beyond.

A total of 404 rail shipments or 2,627 truck shipments would exit Catawba and McGuire en route to Nevada. A typical truck cask with four irradiated fuel assemblies would contain 850,000 curies. A rail cask with 26 assembles would hold 5.5 million curies.

In a report released today, BREDL’s Louis Zeller described the routes from the Catawba and McGuire nuclear stations. "Trains carrying nuclear waste from Catawba would use the Norfolk Southern rail line and travel through Rock Hill, Charlotte, and Gastonia. The shipments would go to Blacksburg and Spartanburg, SC and re-enter North Carolina to follow the French Broad River through Asheville and Marshall bound for Tennessee. Nuclear waste trains from McGuire would use the CSX rail road from Lake Norman through Mount Holly, Bostic, and Marion before leaving western North Carolina. Highway shipments from Catawba would follow a similar route via Interstates 77 North, 85 South, 26 West, and 40 West. Likewise, McGuire truck transports would follow Interstates 77 South, 85 South, 26 West, and 40 West."

The report further describes the avenues of radiation exposure to the public from these shipments. These include accidents, terrorist attacks, and routine exposures. The US Department of Energy’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement for foreign research reactor high-level nuclear waste shipments stated that "[I]t is clear that the incident-free dose would be much higher than the accident dose…."

"This waste is too hot and too deadly to travel through our communities," said Zeller. "People in the Carolina’s and other states will be exposed to 30 to 50 millirems while stuck in trafficour government and the utilities should tell the truth about these transportation hazards."

Last week in a letter to Governor Mike Easley, BREDL recommended that North Carolina oppose the Yucca Mountain dump, block shipments of waste that have not cooled for 50 years, conduct independent testing and monitoring, analyze terrorism risks, and oppose transports through population centers.

Early this year Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended that 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from 103 nuclear reactors be sent to a waste dump at Yucca Mountain. President Bush approved the plan. The state of Nevada opposes the $58 billion project. This summer the US Senate is expected to vote on the Yucca dump, perhaps as early as late June.

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PRESS RELEASE

NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW ARRIVES IN RALEIGH

Today at a press conference in Raleigh the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League and NC Waste Awareness Reduction Network called on Governor Mike Easley to oppose the high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain and support the state of Nevada’s veto. BREDL and NC WARN released information about the hazards of nuclear waste transports, about the technical inadequacies of the Yucca Mountain site, and about the dangers of terrorist assaults on highway and rail shipments.

The specter of a second nuclear dump in the eastern US was raised. In a letter to Governor Easley, BREDL’s Lou Zeller wrote, “The unprecedented, unwilling selection of Nevada should sound alarms in North Carolina. An eastern dump is a real possibility which ought not be overlooked by a state with two eligible nuclear waste sites. What will be the next federal project forced on a state over and above the objections of its governor and its entire congressional delegation?” Yucca Mountain would be limited by law to take only 77,000 tons of the nation’s commercial high-level nuclear waste.

Nora Wilson of NC WARN underlined the inadequacies of the Yucca dump proposal. She said, “Not only is Yucca Mountain physically unsuitable for the geologic disposal of

nuclear waste, it will not solve our nuclear waste crisis in North Carolina. Energy Secretary Spenser Abraham has acknowledged that nuclear waste will remain at plants around the nation after Yucca Mountain is full.” Wilson concluded, “We need an earnest solution to this problem, and Yucca Mountain is not it.”

The groups listed other dangers of high-level nuclear transportation. A fully loaded nuclear waste highway shipment may contain 850,000 curies and weighs 26 tons, an overweight truck under normal standards. Permitted exposure to radiation from nuclear waste shipments is 1000 millirem/hour at the transport cask surface which could cause radiation damage to people on transport routes.

The Nuclear Waste Roadshow will travel to Charlotte, Asheville, and Winston-Salem, and then to South Carolina.

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PRESS RELEASE

NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW
KICKED OFF IN WILMINGTON

Today at a press conference in Wilmington, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League launched a seven-day, ten-city Nuclear Waste Roadshow. The group opposes the U.S. Department of Energy's plans to transport hundreds of radioactive shipments across North Carolina and South Carolina highways and railways to a proposed dump in Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Hauling a full-sized replica of a highway nuclear waste transport cask, BREDL staff and volunteers will trace approved routes from Progress Energy's Brunswick Nuclear Station and other nuclear power plant sites in the two states.

If the United States Senate approves the Yucca dump, more than 800 shipments would travel through North Carolina, most of them through population centers in the Triad, Triangle, and Charlotte. "The radiation levels in nuclear waste fuel rods is so great that no transport method can prevent radiation from escaping. Even without accidents, people will get irradiated," said BREDL's Lou Zeller.

At today's press conference, BREDL released a report entitled "High Level Nuclear Waste Shipments: Radioactive and Deadly." BREDL spokespeople pointed out that no terrorism analysis has been conducted by DOE, that funding for emergency response will fall on state and local governments, and that U.S. taxpayers will bear the liability burden for Duke and Progress high-level nuclear waste.

Tomorrow the Nuclear Waste Roadshow will travel to Raleigh and then on to Greensboro, Charlotte, Rock Hill, Hartsville, Columbia, Greenville, Asheville, and Marshall. Please see Roadshow itinerary below. In addition to press conferences, BREDL will host demonstrations and speak at public hearings.

Early this year Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended that 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from 103 nuclear reactors be sent to a waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. President Bush approved the plan. The state of Nevada opposes the $58 billion project.

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PRESS ADVISORY

NUCLEAR WASTE ROADSHOW
TO BE LAUNCHED IN WILMINGTON

On Thursday, May 30^th the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League will launch its regional campaign opposing nuclear waste transports from nuclear power plants in North Carolina and South Carolina to Nevada. The kick-off event will be a press conference in Wilmington, NC at 12:00 noon at 502 Castle Street in the parking lot of the Rescue Mission of Cape Fear. The centerpiece of the roadshow will be a full-size replica of a highway nuclear waste transport cask.

Press packets will include maps of US Department of Energy approved highway and railway routes, reports on nuclear waste transport hazards, and analyses of emergency management challenges.

The roadshow itinerary is as follows:

Early this year Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended that 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from 103 nuclear reactors be sent to a waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. President Bush approved the plan. The state of Nevada opposes the $58 billion project.

Photo opportunity

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MORE INFO:

BREDL Southeastern High-Level Nuclear Waste Roadshow page - complete with pictures, reports, links.

Map of transport routes analyzed for shipments toYucca Mountain through North Carolina and South Carolina.

BREDL Yucca Mountain page