Anti-Nuclear Visit

["Elizabeth M. Brackett" <brackett@bright.net>]

Dear Radsafers:

I just received a visit from Ohio Citizen Action.   They were here to tell
me about the dangers associated with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1997
(H.R. 1270) and how nasty the stuff from the high level waste "manufacturing
plants" was.  They proceeded to tell me that citizens would be liable for
the transportation, that the manufacturers gave up responsibility once it
was on the road.  When the person doing the talking started telling me about
an unsafe place called Yucca Mountain where this material would sit on
trucks in the parking lot, I couldn't take it anymore.  I asked where she
got her information from, and she said, "As I told you, we are a citizens
action group that has done a lot of things for the citizens and we've been
around for over 20 years."  I told her that didn't answer the question about
where the information came from and that I thought she was misinformed.  She
said it came from their research group in Columbus and she was 125000% that
they were accurate.  Anyway, after several minutes of discussion, I asked if
she would be willing to look at documentation that was contradictory to some
of her "facts."  She said of course she would, because she didn't want to
back something that wasn't true, but reiterated that she was 125000% sure
she was right.  I'm hoping some of you out there can provide me with some
information that she might believe.  Specific questions I have are:

Is it true that the waste is going to sit in trucks for an unspecified
amount of time until their disposition is determined, and will it then be
moved again?

Their pamphlet says the shipping casks have never been physically tested,
only computer simulations have been done.  It goes on to state that they are
only predicted to survive an accident at less than 30 mph.  I know I've seen
films of shipping casks on trains crashing into walls - are these different
casks?

It also states that Chernobyl is estimated to have caused over 140,000 fatal
cancers and an equal number of nonfatal cancers.  I know this has been
discussed on Radsafe before, but can someone give me a more reasonable
estimate, with documentation?

They say it would cost 7 times more to transport the high level waste to a
temporary storage site than it would to store it until a permanent facility
can be built.  Any thoughts on this?

Any other information or thoughts would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance!

Liz
 ------------------------
| Elizabeth Brackett, CHP|
|  Sr. Health Physicist  |
|    MJW Corporation     |
|    (330) 644-3591      |
|  brackett@bright.net   |
 ------------------------