Environmental activist attorneys argued in federal court this week that an environmental assessment (EA) is needed before the Department of Energy trucks 6,000 gallons of liquid highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Canada to the Savannah River Site in Aiken, S.C. Meanwhile, attorneys for the Energy Department want the lawsuit dismissed on the grounds that there is no need for an EA because a supplemental analysis conducted in 2015 confirmed the material is safe for shipment.
Both sides presented their arguments Wednesday to Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
SRS was scheduled in September to begin receiving shipments of HEU from Chalk River Laboratories in Canada. But on Aug. 12, several anti-nuclear groups sued the Department of Energy and other parties because they believe the necessary steps were not taken before DOE authorized up to 150 shipments of HEU.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Beyond Nuclear, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Savannah River Site Watch, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination, Lone Tree Council, Sierra Club, and Environmentalists Inc. They are suing the Energy Department; now-former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz; Monica Regalbuto, assistant energy secretary for environmental management; David Huizenga, principal assistant deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration; and SRS Manager Jack Craig.
Following the hearing, plaintiffs attorney Terry Lodge said DOE knows there is no precedent for trucking liquid nuclear materials on U.S. highways. The truck route to send the material to SRS begins at the Canadian facility in Ontario, then goes over the Peace Bridge and through western New York on its way south to SRS. “The federal policies and actions have always been to solidify this radioactive material before it has been shipped,” Lodge said. “Our experts have advised us that if the courts were to allow it, it would be unprecedented and it would be some of the most dangerous material to travel on highways.”
The Energy Department declined to comment.
Lodge said both sides are sticking to a Sept. 20, 2016, joint motion that states the HEU shipments are postponed at least until Feb. 17, 2017 – the date “Defendants have determined the Canadian shipments must commence,” according to the motion.
Lodge said he is optimistic Chutkan will determine whether she should throw out the lawsuit, or allow it to move forward, before the February deadline. “She understands the gravity of the situation and knows a decision needs to be made in the next few weeks,” he said. If the lawsuit is sustained, both sides will continue arguing whether an EA is needed before the material is shipped from Canada.
In addition to the lawsuit, the DOE shipment plan also faces opposition from other environmental organizations based in the Asheville, N.C., area. The groups – Clean Water for N.C., Environmentalists, Inc., Dogwood Alliance, MountainTrue, NC WARN, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, WNC Physicians for Social Responsibility and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom – sent a letter on Jan. 11 to Gov. Roy Cooper, asking him to support their mission of stopping the HEU from coming through their state. The groups wrote that trucks are likely to pass near North Carolina communities along Interstates 77, 40, and 26, putting them at risk.
Cooper’s office has not responded to multiple calls and emails on the matter.
The shipments to SRS are part of a 2010 agreement between then-President Barack Obama and then-Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to return the U.S.-origin uranium to the United States. Once at SRS, the material will be downblended and sent to Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for use as reactor fuel.
