Real World Tests Urged for Nuclear Transport Casks

By Lauren Peña

LAS VEGAS, Nevada, March 13, 2003 (ENS) - Citizens urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to test nuclear waste transportation casks in real world situations at a workshop held by the commission in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The meeting was held to obtain public comments on an NRC proposal to test casks for transporting radioactive spent fuel by rail and by truck.

The proposal is described in a test protocols report that outlines full scale, high speed, spent fuel cask impact and fire testing experiments that the commission is considering sponsoring over the next few years. Twenty-five representatives from a variety of organizations, ranging from American Indian tribes to the state of Utah, participated in the cask workshop.

Nuclear waste transportation cask (Photo courtesy Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management)

The Yucca Mountain facility has been approved by Congress and by President George W. Bush. If the facility overcomes the hundreds of technical issues yet unresolved, and obtains a license from the NRC, high-level radioactive waste contained in casks would travel by truck or rail across 43 states.

The NRC's Package Performance Study consists of three tests for the casks: rail impact, truck impact and thermal testing. One cask is put through each test to determine how well it can withstand these hazards.

For both the rail and truck impact tests, a full size cask drops from a 250 to 300 foot tower. The cask reaches 75 miles per hour before it impacts an unyielding surface, which the NRC says is equivalent to a 150 mph collision.

After the two impact tests, thermal testing follows. An oil fire surrounds the cask until the cask is no longer visible.

At Wednesday's workshop, Dr. Bonnie Bobb, environmental protection director of the Yomba Shoshone tribe, expressed her concern about the unyielding surface used in the tests. She argued the public wants to know what happens when a cask damages the Earth.

Dr. Andrew Murphy of the NRC explained that the unyielding surface is composed of concrete and steel. He said the surface is 10 times the weight of the cask and therefore produces the most significant damage.

Citizens urged the NRC to test the casks until failure rather than predicting the cask's limits after tests that do not demonstrate failure.

Mock nuclear waste transport cask painted in protest by the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana (Photo courtesy CAC) (Photo courtesy )

"Cask testing needs to reflect what can happen in the real world. Test until failure," Hadder said. "The public wants to know what it won't do."

Kalynda Tilges, executive director of the Shundahai Network, an organization dedicated to preventing nuclear waste in Nevada, agreed. "The public needs the reality of different types of surfaces," she said. "What happens when a cask hits the freeway and it's dragged away? I think that would be very telling."

Citizens also expressed concern about which casks would be tested. Tilges said, "I don't want anything licensed until random selection has been used to test the casks and they are tested until failure." Workshop participants also suggested testing casks that are in use today.

Dr. Murphy responded that the NRC's tests would be able to predict when cask failure would occur. The agency would also do an analysis of the casks so they would not have to check each one, he said.

Robert Halstead, representing the Agency for Nuclear Projects for the state of Nevada, presented a counterproposal. He said the NRC concluded in its report on test protocols report that the risks of transportation were down, but claims the agency has misused the report. "These risk estimates are so low they undermine my skills as an analyst," he said. "This report undermines … any basis of public confidence."

Halstead also said the test protocols report was prepared in secrecy and was unavailable for formal review. "The misuse of this report has injured the state of Nevada," he said.

According to Nevada's counterproposal, the NRC does not require full scale testing of the actual casks but relies on scale model testing and computer analysis to assess cask performance under hypothetical conditions.

Some workshop participants questioned the NRC for holding the meeting on a workday during working hours, suggesting that the agency deliberately kept some people from participating by scheduling the workshop when they were at their jobs.

"This meeting runs to early evening for people who want to provide comments, and there is another meeting in Pahrump," said E. William Brach of the NRC in the agency's defense. "Plus, this is a roundtable discussion with people representing various organizations."

Brach also emphasized that no decisions have been made yet and the public's opinions will influence the NRC's future actions.

"We want the public to gain a broader understanding of what we're doing," he said. "Based on the comments we get, we will make determinations on what changes to make."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission scheduled four public meetings to obtain comments on the proposal to test casks. One took place in Bethesda, Maryland on March 6, and the Las Vegas workshop was held on March 12. Tonight a meeting is taking place in Pahrump, Nevada; and on March 19 the public will be able to offer comments in Rosemont, Illinois.

A nationwide map of nuclear waste transportation routes posted by the state of Nevada is at: http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/states/us.htm

The test protocols report (NUREG-1768) is available for comment at the NRC’s website by clicking here.

Additionally, copies of the report and other related documents can be found at: http://ttd.sandia.gov/nrc/modal.htm or obtained by contacting Amy Snyder by email at ams3@nrc.gov or by telephone at 301-415-8580.

Written comments on the report will be accepted until May 30, and can be submitted by email or addressed to Ms. Snyder at the Spent Fuel Project Office, Mail Stop O13-D13, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-001.