The highest-level of radioactive nuclear waste could soon be headed to Texas.
Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists (WCS) submitted a license application the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (RNC) to become the nation’s first storage facility for this kind of nuclear waste at the end of April.
The initial 40-year application seeks to store tens of thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel, most of which is highly reactive, at a facility in West Texas.
Andrews County, about 50 miles northwest of Midland, approved plans to take in high-level nuclear waste.
There is currently no such disposal site in the U.S. For decades, the federal government struggled to find a place for spent nuclear fuel.
The material is currently stored at roughly 100 sites scattered across the U.S., and some of those are nuclear power plants that have been out-of-operation for years.
The consolidation plan aims to get the toxic waste to one or two secure facilities.
“But for Texas it’s all risk and no reward,” said Tom “Smitty” Smith, Director of the Public Citizen’s Texas office.
Smith said the proposed site puts a large target on Texas for terrorist attacks and he believes the risk spans the entire transportation route.
“The biggest problem is likely going to be that of a terrorist capturing a load of this waste and holding a community hostage until the United States bows to their demands,” Smith said.
According to WCS, the majority of shipments will be transported across the state by train.
“If you’re a terrorist, the place you’re going to attack is likely in a city,” Smith said.
Smith fears any community by which these shipments pass through could be “contaminated” by a train accident or a terrorist attack.
“It could cause death within one week the other problem with radio activity is it alters you genetics and could well cause cancer, so these risks are all way too high to take,” Smith said.
He mentioned the possibility of a terrorist firing a rocket launcher at one of the shipping containers during transport.
The spokesman of WCS, Chuck McDonald said, “Sure they [terrorists] could but want would it do?”
The materials are transported and stored in dry casks that are enclosed in steel reinforced cement.
“It’s going to take a lot more than a rocket launcher to do anything to one of these on a train track,” McDonald said.
WCS already runs a facility that disposes of low-level waste in Andrews County.
McDonald said security is “a very real concern,” but in 50 years and in 5,000 shipments, “There’s never been an incident where there is ever any radioactive exposure.”
When asked if that means radioactive exposure is possible, McDonald said, “I think it’s impossible but I’m not a scientist but I’m as qualified to make a statement as Smitty is.”
McDonald said the plan does offer a reward– Andrews County and the state of Texas will be paid for housing the waste, along with WCS, a privately owned and operated company.
“There’s a very big reward for the United States taxpayers,” McDonald said. “Right now we’re spending $500 million a year in liability payments because we failed to meet our obligation to take this waste by 1998.”
The U.S. Department of Energy estimated the current liability cost to be $13 billion and if the waste stays put, that number is expected to nearly double.
The consolidation plan will cut cost of round the clock security at 100-plus sites. But as Smith sees it, the proposal consolidates the risk to Texas.
McDonald said, “I think what we’re consolidating to Texas is a service to taxpayers that’s going to save us $27 billion and I think that’s a pretty good thing to do.”
According to the RNC, the application process takes about three years. The President of WCS said the application puts the company on track to open the facility as early as 2021.
