Community: Nuclear Waste Storage: Due May 8

All citizens are encouraged to contact the Bureau of Land Management to make public comments about spent nuclear fuel rods (SNF) being stored on the Goshute Indian Reservation in Toole County.

The following is the text of a letter from Sen. Howard Stephenson, District 11.

"...there is an extremely urgent priority that needs your attention now.

I'm sure you are aware of the ongoing effort to prevent the storage of spent nuclear fuel rods (SNF) on the Goshute Indian Reservation in Toole County. Depending on the measure used, this nuclear waste is thousands to millions of times more radioactive than anything ever stored before in Utah.

An entity called Private Fuel Storage (PFS) -- a consortium of nuclear energy producers-- has received a federal permit to store SNF in Utah, but the group must first receive permission to cross BLM land to transport the fuel to the reservation.

The Bureau of Land Management has opened a public comment period during which Utah citizens have the opportunity to express their concerns about this dangerous proposal. We need to create a public record of opposition for the BLM to include in its decision-making process, as this may be our last chance as a community to stop this waste from coming to Utah. We have to act now. The public comment period ends May 8, 2006.

PFS is right now attempting to store 44,000 tons of SNF in 4,000 casks in Skull Valley, less than 50 miles from Utah's population center. The Wasatch Front is downwind from the proposed storage site. Skull Valley is a tiny Indian Reservation only seven miles from the border of Dugway Proving Ground and just 19 miles from the border of the Utah Test and Training Range.

The casks are proposed to be unloaded from rail cars at a facility only a few yards north of I-80--Utah's only east-west highway corridor. They would be loaded onto heavy-haul truck transports that would cross I-80 and travel 20 mph South on State Road 196, just West of the Stansbury Mountains. These transports are 150 to 180 feet long and 12 feet wide, making normal wide-load trucks look small. Only one cask could be moved at a time. SR 196 is a narrow two-lane public road varying from 20 to 24 feet in width, often without a shoulder.

The movement of these casks from their place of generation (nuclear reactors) to an uprotected, open-air central location in Utah near population centers and military operations is both foolish and dangerous. Opponents of PFS contend the movement of 4,000 casks would provide multiple opportunities for terrorists to use explosives to turn the casks into dirty bombs, spreading high-level nuclear material in a wide area. The proximity of Skull Valley to military live-ordinance testing ranges provides additional potential for accidental explosion of casks.

The Environmental Impact Statement for the truck transport is premised on PFS hauling 100 to 200 casks per year. Thus, it will take 20 years to move the SNF casks to the PFS storage facility and then another 20 years to move the SNF casks back for reshipment to reactor sites for repacking and then, finally to Yucca Mountain.

The BLM Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the area in question currently states, "Public land wil not be made available for inappropriate uses such as storage or use of hazardous materials (munitions, fuel, chemicals, etc.) and live artillery firing." The BLM should uphold its own RMP and deny the PFS permit.

Comments shold be sent to Pam Shuller [emphasis mine] at the BLM by FAX (801) 977-4397, by email at pam_shuller@blm.gov or by letter at the address on the enclosed pre-addressed envelope. [Pam Shuller U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Salt Lake Field Office, 2370 South 2300 West, Salt Lake City UT 84119]..."