U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) is calling on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reject a license application for export of 10,000 tons of nuclear material back to Canada after it has been decontaminated at a facility in Tennessee.
Massachusetts-based UniTech Group Services last October filed for import and export licenses for the material, which would be treated at its Oak Ridge Service Center. The NRC determined the import license was not necessary, and is still reviewing the application for the export license.
Commission documents characterize the material in question as tools, metal, and other solid materials of varying composition. The proposal has caught the attention of anti-nuclear organizations that worry about the dangers of moving the material over U.S. roadways.
Higgins sent his letter to NRC Chair Kristine Svinicki on May 5, the last day for public comment on the license application.
“There are potentially significant transportation risks in moving radioactive waste and material on infrastructure shared by everyday citizens,” Higgins wrote. “This is particularly attenuated in this circumstance where the shipment will be unescorted and without proper advance notice to the communities, including those I represent, where the shipments will move through.”
In a May 8 letter to Higgins, NRC Congressional Affairs Office Director Eugene Dacus said the agency would send a formal response “as soon as possible.”
There was no immediate comment from UniTech on the matter.
Higgins has been a vocal opponent of import of Canadian nuclear material to the United States through New York state, particularly highly enriched uranium being shipped to the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
