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Danger in transporting nuclear materials through Michigan

Request to ship nuclear material through Michigan draws concerns MLive News, ; By Brad Devereaux   bdeverea@mlive.com

The possibility of a shipment of spent nuclear fuel on Michigan highways to Port Huron and into Canada has members of a nuclear watchdog group concerned and asking questions.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission received a request for approval of a highway shipment route for spent nuclear fuel from LaSalle County Nuclear Generating Station to Port Huron and Michigan’s port of exit.

A July 13 letter from the NRC indicates the agency received the application, dated May 13, 2018, and the NRC has a goal to complete the review within 45 days, by late August.

LaSalle County Generating Station, near Chicago, has two nuclear reactors that produce 2,320 megawatts of energy, or enough to power 2.3 million homes, according to Exelon Generation, the company that operates the plant.

The company said the proposed shipment is for nine fuel rods, weighing around five pounds each, that will be shipped to a testing facility in Canada after reaching Port Huron.

Beyond Nuclear, an advocacy group working to push for a future free of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons, found the letter posted online on July 23, among hundreds of documents on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s online library.

The group, along with other advocates, criticized the possible shipping route.

“We have serious concerns about shipping high-level radioactive waste from Exelon’s LaSalle reactors to a port city,” said David Kraft, director of the Chicago-based Nuclear Energy Information Service. “Except in cases of extreme emergency, we believe that irradiated fuel should only be moved once for permanent isolation.”

Kay Cumbow of Great Lakes Environmental Alliance in Port Huron said a spill, release or fire in the area or near waterways that flow into the St. Clair River could potentially ruin one of the largest fresh water deltas in the world, the St. Clair Flats. ………

Beyond Nuclear believes the application’s wording suggests a possible water route to the destination, according to a news release from the advocacy organization.

Michael Keegan, spokesperson for Don’t Waste Michigan and Coalition for a Nuclear Free Great Lakes, in Monroe, Michigan, said, “Why risk sending deadly radioactive wastes through our communities and Great Lakes watersheds?”

For security reasons, the NRC could not share the details of the application, Spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng said………. https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2018/08/application_for_nuclear_shipme.html

August 17, 2018 - Posted by | safety, USA

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