[NukeNet] Defunct Reactor Core Beginning Cross-Country Shipment to S. Carolina

[Nukewatch]

*Nukewatch* PO Box 649, Luck, WI 54853

*May 31, 2007*
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Nukewatch (715) 472-4185; mobile: (715) 491-3813 
*Defunct Reactor Core Beginning Cross-Country Shipment to S. Carolina**  *
LA CROSSE, Wiscsonsin -- Police cordoned off the adjacent highway, and 
the over-sized, 20-axle rail car carrying the core of the long-defunct 
La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor has begun its 1,100-mile journey to 
Barnwell, South Carolina where it will be buried in a 15-foot trench. 
The shipment left around noon today.

            The giant, 310-ton shipment will require and stress the 
heaviest railroad track available, increasing the odds that it will pass 
through major population centers including East Dubuque, Moline and 
Chicago, Illinois; Evansville, Indiana; Nashville and Chattanooga, 
Tenn.; Atlanta, Georgia and Columbia, South Carolina.

            Although the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Dairyland 
Power Cooperative claim the shipment is

low-level radioactive waste, the transport's route and timing, as with 
high-level waste, are being kept secret.
            The core, or reactor pressure vessel, is the innermost 
section of a nuclear power reactor -- the 10' diameter-by-40' steel 
vessel used to contain the deadly uranium chain reaction that produces 
heat, radiation and radioactive waste in the generation of electricity. 
The unit, closed in 1987, is owned by Dairyland Power Cooperative (Deb 
Mirasola, Corporate Communications, 608-787-1378). According to 
Dairyland, the core has been filled with cement and encased in cement 
and steel.  

            A Dairyland representative said about the "curie counts" -- 
the radiation levels inside and outside the cask -- only that they were 
below Nuclear Regulatory Commission limits. The exact amounts were said 
to be secret.
            Removing the heavy reactor core required cutting through the 
steel-reinforced concrete containment structure and discarding the 
debris. "The radioactive waste concrete is sitting on the ground between 
the administration building and the Mississippi River, covered only with 
black tarps," said Nukewatch staffer Bonnie Urfer.   
            The Barnwell, S. Carolina Radioactive Waste Facility is the 
only commercial nuclear dump in the country that accepts 
highly-contaminated waste. It closes in June 2008 except for waste 
delivered from two eastern states.
            The reactor's highly radioactive used fuel rods were long 
ago removed from the core and are stored in a cooling pool in the 
reactor containment building, located in the Mississippi river flood plain.
      - end-

-- 
NUKEWATCH
PO BOX 649
LUCK WI 54853
715-472-4185
www.nukewatch.com

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.energyjustice.net/pipermail/nukenet_energyjustice.net/attachments/20070531/8908c60f/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: May 31 release - Cask On the Move.doc
Type: application/msword
Size: 29696 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mail.energyjustice.net/pipermail/nukenet_energyjustice.net/attachments/20070531/8908c60f/attachment-0001.doc