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Nuke Sites Are Vulnerable Members of Congress Join Safe Energy Groups in Call for Hardened Storage of On-Site Nuclear Waste
Editor’s Note: This joint statement urging safer storage of nuclear wastes was issued by the Nuclear Security Coalition and NC Warn on September 7, 2006. The statement indicated that two boiling water reactors at Progress Energy’s Brunswick site near Wilmington, N.C., may be particularly vulnerable to attack.
Washington, DC – To mark the five-year commemoration of the September 11 attacks, members of Congress led by Massachusetts Rep. Edward Markey joined with the nationwide Nuclear Security Coalition to call for prompt actions to secure the U.S. nuclear power reactors’ waste storage system. He proposed implementation of a technology known as “Hardened On-Site Storage” (HOSS)—by which over-filled nuclear waste storage pools at reactor sites are off-loaded into dry storage casks that have been “hardened” against terrorist attack. A fourteen-minute compact disc presentation entitled “Nuclear Spent Fuel & Homeland Security: the Case for Hardened Storage” was hand-delivered to every member of Congress in order to gain support for the joint call. Rep. Markey, a senior member of the House Homeland Security and Energy and Commerce Committees, said at a press conference today in Washington. "The NRC engages in faith-based nuclear security planning, choosing to ignore expert report after expert report, and instead relying on the voluntary half-measures of the profit-conscious nuclear industry." “The National Academy of Sciences has identified that the nation’s current nuclear reactor waste storage system is vulnerable to deliberate attack,” said Paul Gunter of Nuclear Information and Resource Service and spokesperson for the citizens’ coalition. “Robust on-site storage of nuclear waste—hardened against rocket propelled munitions or explosive laden aircraft—provides the public with the first responsible steps towards a protective strategy from a nuclear waste fire that could induce tens of thousands of cancer fatalities out hundreds of miles.” None of the nation’s reactors’ fuel storage buildings are designed as containment structures to withstand attack by aircraft, rocket or a variety of improvised explosive devices. The Nuclear Security Coalition said thirty-two boiling water reactors—two at Progress Energy’s Brunswick site near Wilmington, NC—are particularly vulnerable, with their so-called “spent” fuel storage pools installed six to ten stories up at the top of the reactor building but outside of containment. These pools typically hold over 400 metric tons of thermally hot and highly radioactive used reactor fuel, which must be continuously cooled by water in the forty-foot deep, elevated pools. Progress' Harris plant has the nation's most nuclear power waste under one roof. No technical fix can erase the catastrophic risk at reactor sites because of the intensely radioactive waste that is inherent to the production of electricity. Nuclear plants will continue to be attractive targets. However, offloading the waste from these over-filled fuel pools, and the hardening of on-site dry cask storage systems, will dramatically reduce the risk to public health and safety. The HOSS strategy is only an interim security measure and not a solution to the unsolved and mounting long-term management problem of atomic wastes being generated by U.S. power reactors. “Today, reactor storage pools are dangerous dumpsites, and Congress must act vigorously for the sake of the health, safety and security of the American public to change this ad hoc treatment of high-level waste,” said Jim Warren, Executive Director of NC WARN in Durham, NC. “National disposal policy is at a virtual dead-end, so Congress must order the industry to minimize risks from managing nuclear waste for at least several decades. Nuclear fuel stored at reactor sites must be hardened and bunkered to protect reactor communities,” said Warren. The compact disc presentation delivered to members of Congress draws upon three scientific studies in making the case for hardened on-site storage.([1]) Two key studies have been published in scientific journals identifying the critical national security risk that “spent” fuel pools pose at over 100 U.S. nuclear power plants and how the risk can be dramatically reduced by offloading pools into dry storage casks. In 2003 Congress called on the National Academy of Sciences to study the issue. NAS concluded in April 2005, “The committee believes that knowledgeable terrorists might choose to attack spent fuel pools because:
· at U.S. commercial nuclear power plants, these pools are less well protected structurally than reactor cores; (p.36)
· they typically contain inventories of medium—and long-lived radionuclides that are several times greater than those in individual reactor cores; (p.36)
· a loss-of-coolant event resulting from damage or collapse of the pool could have severe consequences. (p.49)”
The third report, authored by Dr. Gordon Thompson for coalition member Citizens Awareness Network, outlined how a more robust storage system is essential for the protection of the nuclear waste from attack. Such a system first involves reconfiguring pool storage of used fuel assemblies from current high density storage racks to low density storage. This is done by moving fuel assemblies that have cooled from reactor temperatures for at least five years into retrievable, qualified dry casks hardened against attack in fortified onsite structures.
Contact NC WARN for a copy of the Nuclear Security Coalition letter to members of Congress.
[1] “Safety and Security of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage, National Research Council, http://www7.nationalacademies.org/ocga/briefings/Safety_and_Security_Commercial_Spent_Nuclear_Fuel_Storage.asp , National Academy of Sciences, 2006 “Reducing the Hazards Stored Spent Power Reactor Fuel in the United States” (Taylor and Francis, Alvarez, et al), 2003 “Robust Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel,” Citizens Awareness Network, Dr. Gordon Thompson , 2003
Jim Warren, Executive Director NC WARN North Carolina Waste Awareness & Reduction Network Ph: 919-416-5077 Fax: 919-286-3985 PO Box 61051, Durham, NC 27715-1051 Email: Jim@ncwarn.org Web: www.ncwarn.org
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Carolina Civic Voice Fall 2006 Vol. 6, No 3 |