nuclear-news

Apprehension in Kansas about radioactive waste shipments

Kansas regulates radioactive-waste shipments far more loosely than nearby Missouri, Iowa and other Midwestern states through which such waste travels 

No one who ships nuclear waste through Kansas is required to tell state authorities of their plans 

More nuclear waste headed to Kansas, By Gene Meyer | Kansas Reporter, 4 May 12, FAIRWAY — Missouri lawmakers may relax their state’s monitoring of radioactive-waste haulers, a move that worries some Kansans.

“The implications for both states are significant,” said Lisa Janario,
a senior policy analyst with the Council of State Governments , a
nonpartisan think tank. “(Interstate) 70 goes completely across both
states, and Kansas City is a major rail hub for the whole region.”

Kansas regulates radioactive-waste shipments far more loosely than
nearby Missouri, Iowa and other Midwestern states through which such
waste travels from the power-hungry East to the more sparsely
populated West, which has more underground storage.

“Kansas has always been more tentative  in following the lead of other
states in regulating this traffic,” said Janario. “They seem to be
waiting until they see a greater necessity to become more involved.”

Missouri, in contrast, charges shippers as much as $1,800 per
container, plus mileage, to move the highest-level waste across the
state, and shippers must reimburse the Missouri Highway Patrol  for
escorts required en route.

Now Missouri lawmakers are considering relaxing some of those regulations. …..

Critics of the Missouri proposal worry that creating such a chink in
the nuclear regulatory armor would funnel more radioactive traffic
through Missouri and Kansas…..

The four-lane, nearly two-mile-long Eisenhower Tunnel cuts through
the Continental Divide  about 60 miles west of Denver and is the
highest altitude vehicular tunnel in the United States. Federal and
Colorado highway authorities ban shipment of many kinds of hazardous
waste through the tunnel because of potential fire danger……

No one who ships nuclear waste through Kansas is required to tell state authorities of their plans and, indeed, many are encouraged not
to, as a precaution against potential terrorist attacks.

So officially, Kansas becomes involved in the shipments only if they
violate vehicle weight or width restrictions that apply to any trucks
on Kansas roads, said Steve Swartz, a Kansas Department of
Transportation  spokesman, or if there is a spill, said Barbara Hersh,
spokeswoman of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment….
http://www.kansasreporter.org/92660.aspx

May 5, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA