A Wagon Train of "Dirty Bombs" That Will Last for Thirty Years

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The Bush Administration has determined that it is good science and sound public policy to ship thousands of tons of deadly radioactive waste through virtually every major city in the U.S. to Yucca Mountain in Nevada for burial. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham claims that burying radioactive wastes that will remain hazardous for over 240,000 years is a good idea because it is better to have one radioactive waste dump rather than 131 sites scattered around the country.

Unfortunately, this argument rings as hollow as Yucca Mountain. Mr. Abraham and the Bush administration will merely be creating an additional radioactive waste dump unless they simultaneously shut down every nuclear power plant in the U.S. While Greenpeace has long encouraged an end to the nuclear era, this is not the Bush administration's intent. Rather than bringing to an end to America's expensive and dangerous flirtation with the atom, the Bush Administration is extending the operating licenses for existing nuclear reactors and intends to construct more nuclear plants that will create even more long-lived radioactive waste.

Instead of Mr. Abraham's "one safe site" for these radioactive wastes, the Bush Administration's plan will create a wagon train of dirty bombs that will last for thirty years. With over 100,000 shipments across the United States, only the blind or the biased can believe that this scheme will succeed with out incident. In light of the attacks of September 11 and the continued threat of nuclear terrorism, the administration's plan is both irresponsible and dangerous.

If Al Qaeda terrorists are seeking radioactive materials for dirty bombs, why would the Bush Administration place these deadly wastes onto our highways, rail lines and waterways? Rather than rolling these terrorist targets through major population centers throughout the U.S., the Bush Administration should ensure that radioactive wastes and the nuclear reactors that create them are secure from terrorist attack. More than nine months after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the federal government has done precious little to decrease the vulnerability of nuclear power plants and the high-level radioactive waste they produce.

Even after September 11th, the government's nuclear regulators have repeatedly denied citizen petitions that would have increased the level of safety for both nuclear reactors and the radioactive waste stored at the reactor site. These same regulators, at the behest of the nuclear industry, have opposed increasing the quality of the security forces at nuclear power plants despite the fact that nearly half of those forces failed their security drills prior to September 11th. These nuclear bureaucrats repeatedly state that they have received no specific credible threats against nuclear power plants, despite the fact that, according to President Bush, Al Qeada terrorists had diagrams of U.S nuclear power plants in the caves of Tora Bora.

Even if the Bush Administration could magically transport all the radioactive waste to Nevada without incident, accident or terrorist attack, Yucca Mountain is eminently unsuitable for its intended purpose. The federal government has never determined that Yucca Mountain is the best site to store radioactive waste. Rather, it is the only site the government has ever explored. Dumping deadly radioactive waste in Yucca Mountain will not solve the nuclear industry's problems; it will only create an additional environmental disaster. No solution is possible unless and until the government agrees to phase-out nuclear power and stop producing radioactive waste. Only then can we begin a legitimate dialogue to determine the best way to secure these deadly wastes and keep them out of the biosphere for the next 240,000 years.

--John Passacantando

Executive Director

Greenpeace USA

(photo above courtesy Nuclear Regulatory Commission)