Alarm about dangerous transit of radioactive material through Fort Worth.

Nuclear Waste Heading to Cowtown?   Activists are sounding the alarm about potentially dangerous transit of radioactive material through Fort Worth.  Fort Worth Weekly, By Edward Brown October 21, 2020 Like most large U.S. cities, Fort Worth is intersected by multiple rail lines that were first laid well over a century ago. Trains do much of the heavy lifting in this country, and that work sometimes requires carrying hazardous materials that (if released through an accident or leak) could contaminate the surrounding environment with potentially costly and deadly results.

One such fiery derailment occurred last year in Fort Worth when tankers carrying ethanol derailed during heavy rainfall and created a fire that incinerated three horses holed up in a nearby barn. The potential transportation of highly radioactive waste through Fort Worth as part of a proposal by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has alarmed local environmental and civic activists who fear that the transit of radioactive materials through Cowtown isn’t worth the risk.

According to the NRC, the proposal would allow transportation of spent nuclear fuel, which is highly radioactive and potentially deadly, from East Coast nuclear power plants to Andrews County, which is located in West Texas near Odessa. The commission recently closed the public comment portion of the proposal, and a document released by the NRC said a final decision would be released by May of next year.

To draw attention to the potential transportation of nuclear waste through Fort Worth, several environmental and civic activists recently held a press conference at Rogers Roundhouse, located north of Fort Worth Zoo and near Davidson Yard, where 50 miles of tracks handle about 1,800 cars a day. ……

Susybelle Gosslee with the League of Women Voters of Texas, a nonpartisan civic organization, said Fort Worth has nothing to gain and everything to lose by allowing radioactive waste to pass near hospitals, schools, families, and children. …….

“There are some times when waste has to be moved 25 miles away but not 2,000 miles away,”…..https://www.fwweekly.com/2020/10/21/nuclear-waste-heading-to-cowtown/

October 22, 2020 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA