DOE Press Release on Shipment to Idaho

[Mike Grissom <mikeg@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

Radsafers,

The below DOE press release indicates final arrival
(I've added some of the relevant Web links here) of
the heavily publicized spent fuel shipment from South
Korea.

KGO (Channel 7) in the San Francisco Bay Area made a
big deal of the shipment arriving (but the general
population was largely bored with the subject - it is
generally known that such shipments have regularly
gone through the area in the past - just not the exact
time of a shipment!). There were nice videos of the
cargo ship steaming through the Bay surrounded by a
small flotilla of US Coast Guard vessels and later in
the week dramatic helicopter shoots of the train
carrying the spent fuel containers winding its way
through the "dangerous" Feather River Canyon! In
general, most people bought the non-proliferation
argument as a greater concern than the remote
possibility of a dangerous transportation accident.

S.,

MikeG.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 1998
NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS:
Anne Elliott (HQ), 202/586-5806
Brad Bugger (Idaho), 208/526-0833
John Belluardo (Oakland), 510/637-1811
Darwin Morgan (Nevada), 702/295-3996

       SPENT FUEL SHIPMENT SAFELY ARRIVES
IN IDAHO

Advances U.S. Nonproliferation Objective

The Department of Energy announced today that a shipment of
spent nuclear fuel from research reactors in the Republic
of Korea (South Korea) has safely arrived at the Idaho
National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL).

http://www.inel.gov/

To reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism, the United
States is accepting spent nuclear fuel rods from foreign
research reactors to ensure that the highly enriched
uranium they contain will not be used to make nuclear
weapons.

"I thank everyone who contributed to this important effort
to reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism by helping to
secure weapon-usable material in the United States," said
Acting Secretary of Energy Elizabeth Moler. "I especially
want to express my thanks to the many, many officials at
both the state and community levels along the route, as
well as Tribal government officials, for their help. We had
excellent cooperation and coordination in preparing and
training for this shipment. The successful, safe outcome is
a credit to all who helped."

This shipment arrived in the United States by ship at the
Concord Naval Weapons Station in California. Tribal, state
and local personnel teamed with the Department of Energy
and other federal agencies to ensure smooth and safe
transport of the spent fuel from Concord to southeastern
Idaho by train. It arrived at the INEEL this morning, July
23, 1998. Preparations included training over 3,000
emergency personnel along the route and thorough
inspections of the track, locomotives, railcars and
shipping containers.

The spent fuel being accepted from foreign research
reactors contains uranium that was enriched in the United
States and initially exported under President Eisenhower's
Atoms for Peace program. Those countries agreed to forego
development of nuclear weapons in return for U.S.
assistance with peaceful applications of nuclear energy.

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. The fuel
will be shipped to the United States through Concord in
California and the Charleston Naval Weapons Station in
South Carolina, with no more than five shipments arriving
through Concord. The spent fuel will be temporarily stored
at the Department of Energy's Idaho site and Savannah River
Site

http://www.srs.gov/

in South Carolina to await final disposition.

This shipment to Idaho consisted of three shipping casks
certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission containing
299 spent fuel elements.

- DOE -

R-98-094

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The above may be viewed on the Web at URL:

http://www.doe.gov/news/releases98/julpr/pr98094.htm