Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
7/25/2014
Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) is calling on the Department of Energy to perform an Environmental Impact Statement before moving forward with a plan to ship liquid HEU from Canada to the Savannah River Site. DOE is looking to ship approximately 23,000 liters of U.S.-origin material from Atomic Energy of Canada Limited to Savannah River’s H-Canyon facility for downblending. In a letter sent last week to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, Higgins said he has “significant concerns” over the Department’s plan. “In contrast to spent nuclear fuel, which can be reliably and safely transported in solid form, the prospect of shipping liquid nuclear waste is far more complicated. Such high level waste is more radioactive than spent nuclear fuel, and its liquid form could make containment in the event of a spill or other adverse event nearly impossible,” Higgins wrote.
The material that would be shipped resulted from Molybdenum-99 production, and would be down-blended to low enriched uranium at H-Canyon for use as fuel in commercial nuclear power plants. AECL would pay for the work, and DOE officials have said the Department would receive approximately $60 million. Shipments of the material to Savannah River are currently set to begin by September 2015.
In his letter, though, Higgins warned of the potential impacts to the local community in New York state where the material would pass through on the way to Savannah River in the event of an accident. “The potential danger of this proposed action is amplified by the high-risk nature of contamination in the Buffalo-Niagara region. … A major contamination on or near the Peace Bridge would have dire consequences for the regional and national economies. Further, the proposed route would take this material through the heart of the City of Buffalo, a densely populated urban area where the consequence of contamination on public safety would be devastating,” Higgins wrote. “Given these significant concerns, it is the responsibility of the Department of Energy and all relevant agencies involved in the process to thoroughly assess the safety of this action. Therefore, I urge your agency to undertake a formal environmental impact statement before proceeding.”
