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CLEAR Temp: 70 °F Wind: NW at 3 mph Monday, June 10, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Cyberchef E The People Golf Job Network Headbone Zone Wellness Connection Movie Times Newspaper in Education Oregon CarZone Outdoor Journal Personals Prime Times Real Estate Tempo A & E TV Times W3 Magazine CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Destinations Automotive Communities Employment Entertainment Publications Real Estate Recreation Shopping Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Jobs @ Mail Tribune Email Story to a Friend May 29, 2002 Southern Oregon University student Sterling Ford gets a few questions answered from John Hadder of Citizen Alert, a group traversing the nation in protest of Bush administration plans to transport nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain for storage. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Group fears nuke waste spill Radioactive waste en route to Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada may find its way through Southern Oregon, protesters say By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune ASHLAND — Music major Sterling Ford sized up what appeared to be a giant dumbbell on the back of a truck trailer at Southern Oregon University early Tuesday afternoon. "If this didn’t say ‘mock,’ I’d be very concerned," said the Talent resident before hurrying off to class. He was referring to the "Mock Nuclear Waste Cask" en route to the nation’s Capitol via the Pacific Northwest. The cask — 20 feet long and 8 feet in diameter — is one of half a dozen now touring the nation as part of a grassroots campaign against plans by Uncle Sam to transport nuclear waste through 43 states and store it in Yucca Mountain in southern Nevada. Citizen Alert, a Nevada-based group opposed to the plan, has hit the road with the mock casks. In Southern Oregon, tentative plans by the federal Department of Energy would have the casks shipped from the Trojan and Hanford nuclear power plants via rail through Klamath Falls and south to California. "But that’s what the DOE calls a ‘representative route,’ " said John Hadder, an orange-jumpsuit clad spokesman for Citizen Alert. "There is a high probably that the transportation of these wastes could be privatized," he added. "Those private carriers may decide to do it a little differently." That means it could end up rumbling south via trucks on Interstate 5, he said. "What we are calling for is for the waste to be kept on site," Hadder said. "That would be a good short-term solution." Moving the material now represents too much potential for a major disaster, he said. The problem is not creating a nuclear bomb but releasing deadly radiation, he said. Each real cask would hold up to two metric tons of 10-year-old radioactive fuel capable of producing 10 times the radioactivity released by the Hiroshima bomb, he noted. "In the case of an accident involving a fire, releasing a small amount would represent a huge problem," he said. "In Ashland, releasing even one-tenth of a percent would probably require the evacuation of the city." Following a recommendation by the DOE, President Bush earlier this year approved the Yucca Mountain disposal site. However, Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, vetoed it, leaving the decision up to Congress. The U.S. House of Representatives voted to override the governor’s veto, and now the fate of the site rests with the U.S. Senate. Unless the Senate votes in favor by July, the veto carries the day. "It’s going to be tight in the Senate," Hadder said. "We are here to tell people along the route to call their senators." In the Northwest, the nuclear waste would most likely include both liquid radioactive material from Hanford and spent fuel rods from the Trojan plant, he said. Supporters of the plan, including Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of nuclear utilities, have said that waste shipments have been traversing the nation’s roads and rails for years, all without incident. Scott Northard, director of nuclear asset management for Xcel Energy, noted that having a single spot for waste storage is safer and less expensive than monitoring the stuff at scattered locations. But Hadder disagreed. A former graduate student of chemistry and physics at the University of Nevada-Reno, he joined the opposition to the federal plan after visiting a nuclear test site in southern Nevada. "What we’re asking is simple: Set up a good way to deal with this stuff in the long term," he said. "We can store it on site right now." Given last year’s terrorist attacks, transporting the nuclear material now is not a prudent move, he said. "Someone could intercept one of these and create quite a dangerous situation," he said. "The fact of the matter is, they are not designed to withstand weapons that are available on the black market." Accidents happen because of human error, he warned. "No one can predict when they’ll happen, but they will happen," he said. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy web master feedback A D V E R T I S E R S