Janelle Penisten submitted a Letter to the Editor to the Rock Hill Herald. This was in response to the article “Group raises nuclear waste worries” which criticized and questioned the safety of transporting spent nuclear fuel. Click link below to view Janelle’s response.
Transporting nuclear fuel is completely safe
In response to the recent story, “Group raises nuclear waste worries,” transporting used nuclear fuel carries low risks. Since 1964, over 3,000 used fuel shipments have safely traversed more than 1.7 million miles of U.S. highways and railroads.
Shipments to a GNEP reprocessing site would be used nuclear fuel, which is in the form of hard ceramic pellets about the size of one’s fingertip encased in metal tubes. This used fuel cannot explode and is inflammable. Used fuel is transported in vault-like containers having at least three tons of protective shielding to every one ton of fuel. You’d need to stand within 6 feet of a used fuel transportation cask for at least four hours in order to receive a radiation dose equivalent to that from a routine medical X-ray. Radiation levels are even lower as you move further from the cask.
Before they can be certified for use, transportation cask designs must, in sequence, undergo a 30-foot free fall onto an unyielding surface; a 40-inch fall onto a steel rod six inches in diameter; a 30-minute exposure to fire at 1,475 degrees fahrenheit that engulfs the entire container; and submersion in 3 feet of water for eight hours.
When is the last time you’ve heard of a real accident that involved even one of these events? Well, in the off chance that all of these events happen in sequence and involve a used fuel transportation cask, don’t worry, the transportation cask will emerge unharmed, still containing the used nuclear fuel, still protecting the public’s health and safety.
With the GNEP plan, South Carolina has the opportunity to be an integral part of our nation’s energy security and needs, rather than a dumping ground. Let’s rise to the occasion.
Janelle Penisten
