Re: NIRS anti-nuclear activity summer 2000

[Don Edling <dedling@home.com>]

Re: Mis-labeling and possibly mis-marking(?) See 49 CFR 172.303
Prohibited marking and 172.401 Prohibited labeling.

172.303(a) No person may offer for transportation or transport a package
which is marked with the proper shipping name or identification number
of a hazardous material unless the package contains the identified
hazardous material or its residue.

172.401(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, no person may
offer for transportation and no carrier may transport a package bearing
a label specified in this subpart unless:

	(1) The package contains a material that is a 
	    hazardous material, and
	(2) The label represents a hazard of the 
	    hazardous matrial in the package

(b) No person may offer for transportation and no carrier may transport
a package bearing any marking or label which by its color, design or
shape could be confused with or conflict with a label prescribed by this
part.

This would seem to answer the question - "No, it is not in compliance
with the regulations."  BUT - then one has to read: paragraph 172.401
(d) The provisions of paragraph (a) above do not apply to a packaging
bearing a label if that packaging is: (1) Unused ..., (2) ...not visible
during transport, and (3) Loaded by the shipper and unloaded by the
shipper... Does this item meet the above three criteria?

I don't pretend to be a lawyer or to give a definitive interpretation,
but, by the definition of "packaging" in 171.8, the item being
transported does not meet the DOT's definition of a "packaging" and
since it does not have any hazardous or RAM materials,it can not meet
the definition of a "package." So,if it is not a "packaging" or a
"package" per the DOT regulations, maybe it is not regulated by the
DOT?? I suspect I have already spent too much time on a
question/subject, the answer to which may not exist.


ruth_weiner wrote:
> 
> This is part of the anti-Yucca Mountain repository campaign.  In fact, the
> fake cask is somewhat larger than the casks intended for legal-weight truck
> transport, the fake cask is being taken into cities off the freeway, where
> the real ones will not go (they stay on the interstate and use
> circumferential highways where they exist) and the fake cask is, of course,
> mislabeled because it does not contain radioactive material (is this
> mislabeling a violation of a regulation?).  I wonder who is bankrolling this
> effort.  I also wonder what can be done to counteract it.
> Counter-demonstrations are tough to mount when you have to do it in your
> spare time outside your "day job."  any ideas would be most welcome.
> 
> Ruth Weiner
> ruth_weiner@msn.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bjorn Cedervall <bcradsafers@hotmail.com>
> To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
> Date: Friday, July 21, 2000 6:20 AM
> Subject: Re: NIRS anti-nuclear activity summer 2000
> 
> >An anti-nuclear group is hauling a fake spent fuel shipping cask around the
> >country.
> >This is part of their diary, which is posted at
> >http://www.nirs.org/roadsrails/roadsrailsdiary75112000.htm
> >---
> >The text includes the following (below) - I have given some comments. It
> >seems to be a combination of psychiatric and media techniques. The diary is
> >boring.
> >
> >My personal reflections only,
> >
> >Bjorn Cedervall   bcradsafers@hotmail.com
> >-----------------------------------------
> >>"Such exposures would be especially harmful to pregnant women and the
> >>babies within their wombs, infants and small children, the elderly, and
> the
> >>infirm - persons whose immune system is already challenged."
> >
> >The first part of the sentence above is about the women - not about the
> >babies. Does any evidence point at a higher sensitivity for women who are
> >pregnant? Sounds like news to me.
> >---------
> >>"Toll booth attendants are yet one more forgotten sector of the population
> >>who would unknowingly be exposed to multiple radiation doses from high
> >>level nuclear waste shipments."
> >
> >Estimated collective doses as compared to those from people handling
> >potassium fertilizers or bananas? (did they ever hear about radon?)
> >---------
> >>"Given the tens of thousands of shipments potentially traveling the
> Indiana
> >>toll road, such exposures could add up quickly."
> >
> >What about doses from fossil fuel or peat waste that may end up in various
> >materials such as concrete, roads etc?
> >---------
> >>"Citizen Action Coalition of Indiana has worked against the Mobile
> >>Chernobyl for years. Their door to door canvass campaign generated 15,000
> >>letters to the newly elected U.S. Senator from Indiana Evan Bayh in the
> >>space of just several weeks."
> >
> >Old spamming technique? Does it really work?
> >--------
> >>"Lisa Gue at Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Project
> >>did excellent media work, and we were pleased to wake the next morning to
> >>see our rally covered as front page headline news in area papers with big,
> >>full color pictures."
> >
> >Can any of this be seen on the Internet? If yes - where?
> >--------
> >>"Indiana has no nuclear power reactors within its borders, thanks in large
> >>part to the effective activism and legal intervention of CAC in the early
> >>to mid 1980's."
> >
> >Is this correct - what about coal as fuel (and radioactivity releases BTW)?
> >--------
> >>"We held a press conference at the State Capitol building, with the cask
> >>parked at the foot of the Abraham Lincoln statue. Lincoln lived and
> >>practiced law in Springfield when he was elected President in 1861. Honest
> >>Abe probably would have been ashamed of the nuclear establishment's
> >>dishonesty regarding high level nuclear waste transportation risks."
> >
> >Relevance (seems like emotional self therapy)?
> >---------
> >>"Driving across the tall bridge over the river, I wondered how many
> >>hundreds of feet down to the water below, and how deep the water? Had the
> >>U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission tested casks for such an accident?
> Water
> >>immersing a transport cannister could provide the neutron reflection
> >>necessary to induce a nuclear criticality accident in the large quantity
> of
> >>fissile uranium and plutonium still contained in the waste. Such an
> >>inadvertent criticality accident occurred in Japan last October."
> >
> >The Japan criticality accident seems to be of weak relevance (?).
> >----------
> >>"We held a press conference in conjunction with the Missouri Coalition for
> >>the Environment at City Hall in downtown St. Louis."
> >
> >Did any Radsafer attend any of the press conferences or slide shows
> >mentioned?
> >----------
> >>"The vast majority of commercial nuclear power reactors are located east
> of
> >>the Mississippi River, yet both the proposed "interim storage site" and
> the
> >>proposed permanent national repository for high level nuclear wastes are
> >>located in the far West, and on Native American land. A little
> >>environmental racism to go with the fact that neither Utah nor Nevada have
> >>nuclear reactors within their borders?!"
> >
> >Comments:
> >1. Isn't east of the Mississippi River also Native American land? What is
> >the point (NIMBY?)?
> >2. How many people live in Utah & Nevada?
> >3. What are the needs (MW & TWh) and supplies (MW & TWh) for electric power
> >in Utah & Nevada?
> >
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