kucinich.house.gov

Kucinich Contact:

Washington, May 8 -

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) spoke on the House floor this afternoon against the Yucca Mountain Repository Site Approval Act, which would transport spent nuclear waste across the country to the Nevada location. Following is his floor statement in opposition of this bill.

The transportation of this waste will require over 96,000 truck shipments over 4 decades. Almost every major east-west interstate highway and mainland railroad in the country will experience high level waste shipments. More radioactive waste will be shipped in the first full year of repository operations than has been transported in the entire five-decade history of spent fuel shipments in the United States.

The Department of Energy proposes to directly impact 44 states, and many of the major metropolitan areas in the nation. At least 109 cities with populations exceeding 100,000 including, my constituents in Cleveland, Ohio will be subjected to repeated shipments with minimal safeguards.

Highway shipments alone will impact at least 703 counties with a combined population of 123 million people. Nationally 11 million people reside within one half mile of a truck or rail route. This never before attempt to transport radioactive materials will bring with it many risks, including potentially serious economic damage and property value loses in cities and communities along shipping routes.

And the poorly tested transportation casks may be vulnerable to highway accidents and security breaches. Because of a lack of rail facilities to several reactors the Department of Energy will use barge shipments to move this waste to a port capable of transferring 120 tone casks to a train. Some of these shipments will occur on the Great Lakes. The world's largest source of fresh water, over 35 million people living in the Great Lakes basin use it for drinking water.

The federal government must radically improve the safety and security of these shipments. And that is the purpose of the Nuclear Waste Transportation Protection Amendments Act of 2002 which I have introduced. This legislation would require comprehensive nuclear waste transportation safety programs, protect populated communities, establish that the oldest fuel should be shipped first, require that full cask testing, consultation on state and local routes, private carrier prohibition, advance notification and safety precautions.

Vote against this legislation to allow shipment of spent nuclear waste throughout our great nation.