Re: Anti-Nuclear Visit

["Dean W. Ervin" <dervin@dps.state.oh.us>]

I cannot help but comment on this one!!

First of all, a representative of Ohio Citizen Action once showed up 
at my doorstep at home telling me how polluted my home's drinking 
water was, and wanted me to sign a petition to take action against 
the water treatment plant, etc.  However, the rep. could not give me 
any specific facts to back his claims. (Imagine that!)

To provide some answers to your questions:

Having spent some time in the motor freight industry, no one in their 
right mind loads up a trailer, rail car, etc. to send it somewhere 
and let it sit.  Transportation companies like to load up a 
trailer/car, send the cargo to its destination, unload it, have 
someone sign for it and get on to the next job. Otherwise, transport 
companies lose money fast in highly competitive markets.  And anyone 
who has shipped RAM will not contract to load it up when its 
destination, acceptance, etc. is uncertain.  (You just don't ship it 
to begin with if you have such uncertainties.)  Not only that, but 
RAM cask storage is a whole lot different than transport.  10 CFR 
Part 71 Packaging and Transportation of RAM and 10 CFR 72 Licensing 
Requirements for the Independant Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel and 
High-Level Rad. Waste can help provide some details.

Again, 10 CFR Part 71 goes into the requirements for testing of 
shipping casks as well as 40 CFR 173.  Computer simulation of the 
physical tests are combined with scale model and full-scale 
demonstration to validate the cask's ability to survive accident 
conditions.  An example of this is the TRU-PACT I container (a Type B 
cask) which failed the puncture test and sent engineers back to the 
drawing board.  TRU-PACT II containers are the re-engineered version 
and are validated.  As for the 30 MPH, well it looks like  Ohio 
Citizen Action mis-interpreted the drop test requirement.

Now as far as Chernobyl goes, what does that have to do with RAM 
transportation?  Chernobyl was a nuclear power facility without a 
containment structure which exploded.  If it had a containment 
structure, we would not have seen the magnitude of contamination, but 
still, Chernobyl does not fit in with the transport issue.  For 
documentation on Chernobyl, you may want to call up US DOE's Oak 
Ridge facility which has some Registry through ORISE (cavat emptor - 
I have not checked it out myself.)  We did locate a point of contact 
for transportation issues.  Contact Mr. Robert Halstead, 
Transportation Advisor to the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects at 
(702) 687-3744.

Hope this has helped out.  Be safe.

- Dean  :-)











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Dean Ervin, Ohio EMA
Ohio Dept. of Public Safety
(614) 799-3681 dervin@dps.state.oh.us
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