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Protest campaign to stop nuclear waste transport in Idaho

Opponents protest nuclear waste transport in Idaho, June 22, 2018, By SAVANNAH CARDON, Post Register ,Idaho Press CALDWELL — Among the tents set up at the Caldwell Farmers Market on June 13, one stuck out. Covered in nuclear waste symbols and mock waste barrels was the Radioactive Waste Roadshow with Don’t Waste Idaho.

The campaign was coordinated to oppose the U.S. Department of Energy’s proposal to ship 7,000 cubic meters of nuclear waste from Hanford, Wash., to the Department of Energy desert site west of Idaho Falls. After processing, the waste would then be transported to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico for disposal, Don’t Waste Idaho campaign coordinator Liz Paul said.

The campaign’s mission is to act as Idaho’s nuclear watchdog and educate people on the potential dangers of storing and transporting hazardous material, particularly in regard to the Snake River Aquifer that sits below the Idaho National Laboratory, Paul said. The campaign, which began in early 2018, is supported by the Snake River Alliance.

“We oppose this idea of shipping this waste across our public highways and railways, and we also oppose having it stored indefinitely at the Idaho National Lab,” Paul said………

Don’t Waste Idaho is campaigning across the state to get signatures on a petition asking Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden to defend the Nuclear Waste Settlement Agreement.

“We think the people of Caldwell should be concerned,” Paul said. “This waste is a danger. We don’t want it coming on our highways, and we don’t want it stranded.”

The route following Interstate 84 from Hanford to the lab passes through Caldwell, Nampa, Meridian and Boise. However, site spokeswoman Sarah Robertson-Neumann said it’s too early to confirm the route the radioactive waste would travel.

Don’t Waste Idaho will continue through Idaho cities to express its views against the transport of nuclear waste through Idaho, Paul said. The group plans to have representatives at events Saturday in Pocatello at the farmers market and Inkom at the Wild Flower Festival and at the Jackson Brown concert at the Idaho Botanical Gardens July in Boise.

“I’m very concerned about new threats to having even more nuclear waste in the state that might cause damage to people all over, especially in the southern half,” said Julie Hoefnagels, Snake River Alliance board president. “We are just doing what we can to get the word out so people can be aware again.”  http://www.postregister.com/articles/featured-news/2018/06/22/opponents-protest-nuclear-waste-transport-idaho

June 25, 2018 - Posted by | opposition to nuclear, USA

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