Nuclear waste arrives at Idaho storage dump - Update

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Follow-up article off the wires. Probably will receive network news 
coverage tonight (probably already occured on the east coast).

Thursday July 23 3:25 PM EDT 

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (Reuters) - A shipment of radioactive waste 
that anti-nuclear protesters have dubbed a "mobile
Chernobyl" arrived at its temporary storage site Thursday, ending a 
long voyage from South Korea. 

A Union Pacific train carrying the cargo of 299 spent nuclear fuel 
rods pulled into the Idaho National Engineering and
Environmental Laboratory near Idaho Falls, where it was to be 
offloaded by crane, according to Brad Bugger of the
Department of Energy. 

"We've scheduled 16 days to complete the unloading, but we hope 
to be finished much earlier than that," Bugger said. 

The South Korean fuel rods will be taken out of their lead-lined 
steel traveling casks and placed in storage baskets, which will
then be moved to the laboratory's irradiated fuel storage facility, 
Bugger said. 

The shipment sparked protests from environmentalists and anti-
nuclear groups, who say the material is too dangerous to move
through heavily populated areas such as San Francisco, where it 
first landed on U.S. soil. 

Under the current program, the United States will accept up to 20 
metric tons of spent nuclear fuel from research reactors in
41 countries through the year 2009 -- transfers officials say will 
reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism by ensuring the uranium
they contain is not used to make nuclear weapons. 

Scattered demonstrations greeted the cargo as it arrived by ship in 
the San Francisco Bay area Tuesday, and other protesters
gathered as it began its 1,000-mile, 31-hour rail journey from 
California to Idaho. 

But Energy Department officials, who insisted every precaution was 
taken to ensure safety and security, said the transfer went
off without a hitch. 

More than 3,000 emergency personnel were trained along the route 
and there were thorough inspections of the track,
locomotives, railcars and shipping containers, officials said. 

"It was an uneventful trip, everything went pretty smoothly," Bugger 
said. "We had great cooperation from local authorities and
law enforcement. There really were no problems." 

The South Korean shipment is part of the "Atoms for Peace" 
program created in the early 1950s by the Eisenhower
administration in which Washington agreed to supply nuclear 
research reactors and fuel on the condition that the spent fuel be
returned for safekeeping in the United States. 

Bugger said that the nuclear waste could remain in "temporary 
storage" in Idaho, and at another site at the Savannah River in
South Carolina, for decades while the Federal government 
assesses options for permanent disposal. 

"We have an agreement with the state of Idaho that says we'll have 
all fuel out of Idaho by the year 2035 at the latest," Bugger
said. "We are studying what will happen then." 

------------------
Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
ICN Plaza
3300 Hyland Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Office: (800) 548-5100 x2306 
Fax:    (714) 668-3149
  
sandyfl@earthlink.net
sperle@icnpharm.com

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