[ RadSafe ] Idaho N-Waste Issue

[Mark Miller]

Idaho environmental group questions nuclear waste shipments

 

TWIN FALLS, Idaho - An Idaho nuclear watchdog group has asked the U.S.
Department of Energy to conduct more environmental studies before going
ahead with a plan that would increase the amount of nuclear waste being sent
to eastern Idaho for processing.

 

<snip>  The Snake River Alliance calls into question that analysis and asks
for additional study.

 

Brailsford said the group expects to get the letter from the department by
the end of the month. She said the group's next move depends on how DOE
officials respond to the letter.   <endsnip>

 

This may be just another of the myriad "roadblocks" that interveners
obligatorily place in the road of "anything nuclear".  Having not actually
seen their "questions", I'd predict that they are long on qualitative
"feelings" and short on quantitative fact-based analyses.  Their "next move"
will, I predict, be more of the same, unless DOE completely abandons the
entire project.  In case no one has noticed, the U.S. economy can no longer
afford to indulge baseless agenda-driven obstructionism.  Healthy
questioning indeed serves a useful purpose, and should continue.  However,
intellectual honesty on all sides is needed to ensure that we identify and
address the real problems.  To do less is to repeat the dismal energy
insecurity situation that the U.S. (and the world) finds itself in today
because we have failed to safely pursue our nuclear power options for the
past 30 years.