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Bir dizi tehlikeli atik aktarimlarindan ilkini gerceklestirecek olan bir
kargo gemisi, bu ay icinde bir gun su unlu Altin Kopru'nun altinda geciyor
olacak.
Idaho'daki federal atik bolgesine California Uzerinden, Asya'dan gelen
yuksek radyoaktiviteli, bes planlanmis aktarma yapilacak. Bu nukleer
yakit cubuklarinin tasinmaya baslanacagi tarih oldukca gizli tutuluyor.
Resmi agizli yetkililer, Californiyali cevrecilere ve yerel siyasilere
karsi, bu tasimayi savunuyor ve bunun ABD hukumetinin zenginlestirilmis
uranyumu teroristler ile dusman ulkelerden uzak tutmaya calismasi olarak
gosteriyorlar.
( Asagidaki ozgun Ingilizce haberde kararsiz/degisken yapili bolgelerde
atik tutulmasinin sakincali oldugundan. Ama buna karsin bu atiklari onca yol
boyunca insanlarin yasadiklari yerlerin yakinindan gecirmenin tehlikede geri
kalmadigi vurgulaniyor. - Cev. )
10:30 AM ET 07/09/98
Waste shipments raise Calif. nuclear fears
By Yukari Iwatani
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)- One day this month, a cargo ship
will steam beneath famed Golden Gate Bridge with the first in a
series of sinister shipments -- deadly nuclear waste, packed in
lead-lined casks.
Secrecy surrounds the exact shipping schedule for the South
Korean nuclear fuel rods, the first of five planned transfers of
highly radioactive Asian nuclear waste to move through
California on its way to a federal storage site in Idaho.
But officials, fighting rising alarm among California
environmentalists and local politicians, say the move is a key
part of the U.S. government's effort to keep highly enriched
uranium out of the hands of terrorists and hostile nations.
``We're concerned about the security aspects of storage in
Asia, especially in unstable countries, as witnessed by the
current situation in Indonesia,'' Department of Energy spokesman
John Belluardo said. ``It's much wiser to have this in the hands
of the U.S. under our security than overseas.''
Environmental activists in California are not so sure. They
say the threat of an accident is worth worrying about and accuse
the government of playing a dangerous game by shipping nuclear
fuel rods through some of the state's most densely populated
areas.
``One has to take these (official) assertions of safety with
a sizable grain of skepticism,'' California Coastal Commission
Executive Director Peter Douglas told a reporter. ``It's been
said before that something is foolproof, then, lo and behold,
the unthinkable happens.''
'ATOMS FOR PEACE' PLAN BRINGS WASTE TO U.S.
According to Energy Department officials, after the nuclear
waste arrives at the Concord Naval Weapons Station near San
Francisco it will be transported almost 1,000 miles via railroad
passing through communities in northern California, Nevada, Utah
and Idaho. It will be ``temporarily stored'' in Idaho until a
permanent dumping ground is approved.
Four more shipments of nuclear waste from countries such as
Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines are
scheduled to move through the San Francisco Bay area by 2009. In
addition, up to 231 shipments from other parts of the world will
be taken to the Energy Department's Savannah River storage site
near Aiken, South Carolina, through Charleston.
The shipments are 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 would be returned.
Shipments used to be secret but now California's vocal
environmentalists are speaking out. Their chief fear is the
potential threat to residents, the environment and the local
economy. For example, they say even a small accident could harm
California's fishing industry because of public perceptions even
if no radiation is released.
UNTHINKABLE MIGHT HAPPEN
Although the waste will be encased in casks with eight-inch
-thick walls of lead and steel that have survived a myriad of
endurance tests, they still worry that somehow the unthinkable
might happen.
The state Coastal Commission's request to review federal
plans before the shipments arrive has been denied and a U.S.
district court threw out a lawsuit filed by two local
governments seeking to block the shipment, saying the federal
government had sufficiently addressed potential environmental
impacts associated with the program.
While 16 Bay Area communities have passed resolutions
opposing the federal plan, the Energy Department says all
necessary safety inspections and precautions have been taken and
the chance of accidental leakage during transport is extremely
low -- on the order of one in a billion.
``Not only will these shipments be safe, they will help to
make the world a safer place,'' acting Secretary of Energy
Elizabeth Moler said in a guest editorial in the San Francisco
Chronicle.
But anti-nuclear activists and lawmakers say the transport
route planned for the radioactive shipments is hazardous.
Specifically, they say Concord's port is near an active
earthquake fault and the rail route through California's Feather
River canyons is perilous.
As recently as last month, two weather-triggered landslides
in the canyon derailed two rail cars and sent mobile-home-size
boulders careening onto the tracks. Prior to these incidents,
some 28 trains have derailed there in 15 years.
While U.S. Rep. Ellen Tauscher has formally asked for a
safety study before the program begins, the Energy Department
has declined. Belluardo, the department's spokesman, said Union
Pacific railroad has already spent several million dollars to
upgrade the tracks, bolt down loose rocks and install sensors to
warn oncoming trains of any impending danger.
``The casks are virtually indestructible,'' Belluardo said.
''During the past 40 years, there have been some 2,500 shipments
of spent nuclear fuel, and because these casks have been so
robust there's never been a radioactive release of material.
From that standpoint, we have an excellent record.''
- REUTERS
The department has also trained about 3,000 ``emergency
responders'' along the route, including hospital staff, police
and firefighters.
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