Three schools, Lawrence Memorial Hospital, the Kansas River and plenty of homes lie within a mile of railways that could be used to transport high-level nuclear waste to a proposed dump site in Nevada.

A new searchable database devised by the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog organization, shows the proximity of the proposed nuclear disposal routes to any address in the country. Under one of the proposals, shipments from the eastern United States would go through Lawrence over Union Pacific railroad tracks on their way to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The route would pass less than a mile from Woodlawn, Pinckney and New York schools.

A Senate decision whether to proceed with the dump site could come as early as the end of June. The House approved the site on May 8. Shipments are forecast to begin in 2010.

The prospect of shipping spent nuclear fuel cross-country should disturb people, especially in the aftermath of Sept. 11, said Bob Eye, a Topeka attorney who has been involved in nuclear power litigation.

“Even if before Sept. 11 we believed that transportation of radioactive waste was relatively safe, I think we now know the shipments each one would be a potential target,” he said. “The canisters that would be used to transport this waste are not impenetrable. They are not indestructible. They carry an enormous inventory of radiation in every one of them. Losing one on a bridge across the Kaw River, for example, would be a real catastrophe on a monumental scale.”

But Ben Friesen, coordinator of Kansas University’s Environment, Health and Safety Council, isn’t worried about that risk, which he contends is minute. Friesen spent more than 30 years as the university’s radiation safety officer, sitting at a desk on the same floor as a nuclear reactor in Burt Hall.

“I guess I personally wouldn’t feel uncomfortable with the transportation of those (nuclear waste containers) under the requirements that are put on them,” he said. “You can’t ever say never about an accident. All I’m saying is I think the precautions are very, very high.”

The Yucca Mountain project Web site details the strenuous tests the transportation casks must undergo: a 30-foot free fall onto an unyielding surface; a puncture test, during which the container must fall 40 inches 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 submergence of the same container under three feet of water.

	Potential nuke routesWant to find out how close to your home or school nuclear waste could pass if Congress approves a dump site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada? Go to www.mapscience.org to access a searchable database that allows you to enter any address in the country and determine its proximity to potential transportation routes for spent nuclear fuel. It also identifies schools and hospitals within one, two and five miles of possible routes.

The Energy Department claims that containers tested under such conditions have transported 2,700 spent nuclear fuel shipments more than 1.6 million miles since the 1960s without any harmful release of radioactive material.

The department has projected that over a 24-year period there could be as many as 2,200 long-distance shipments of nuclear waste per year if most of it moves by highway. There could be as few as 175 shipments a year if almost all move by dedicated trains, the department said.

Those shipments, the Environmental Working Group’s study says, would pass within a mile of 146,161 Kansas homes, 246 schools and 20 hospitals.

Carey Maynard-Moody, chairwoman of the Wakarusa Group Kansas Chapter Sierra Club, worries it might take a disaster to get people to rethink the way energy is produced in this country.

“I don’t think nuclear waste can ever be safe,” she said. “Accidents happen, and they have happened. Three Mile Island happened. Chernobyl happened. It’s not fool-proof. Accidents happen with the best intentions and the best protection.”

The slight probability that a container could become compromised in transit is part of the reason emergency personnel in Douglas County receive continued training in dealing with radiological incidents. Awareness here also is fueled by Lawrence’s proximity to Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Plant northeast of Burlington

“The first responders are aware of the radiological risk,” said Paula Phillips, Douglas County Emergency Management director. “A year ago, when an unclassified shipment of nuclear waste was going to be coming through the area, we all went through specialized training. We’ve rehearsed these scenarios; we’ve discussed them. Even this week, fire and medical is doing radiological training.”

Even so, Margaret Turner, who lives a few blocks away from the Union Pacific tracks in North Lawrence, would rather emergency workers not have to put their training to the test.

“I wouldn’t particularly care for it,” she said of the possibility that nuclear waste could pass less than a mile from her front door. “I’d like to live a lot longer.”

Eye said there was no good answer to the question of what to do with spent nuclear fuel, which now is stored at commercial nuclear power plants and Energy Department facilities throughout the country.

“But we’ve got hundreds of thousands of years to come up with an answer,” Eye said. “With Yucca Mountain, in terms of radiological time, we’re rushing to judgment. I’m afraid we’re going to be very sorry about that.”