(The following article by Kim McGuire was posted on the Denver Post website on November 28.)
DENVER — A proposed uranium-enrichment plant in southeastern New Mexico has stoked concerns about tons of radioactive material being shipped by 2008 on rail lines through some of Colorado’s most mountainous terraincq.
After a recent environmental impact study showing proposed transportation routes slicing through Colorado, the Western Governors Association this month petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow the group to weigh in on the plan to build a $1.2 billion enrichment facility.
If built, the plant would provide “low enriched” uranium to help power nuclear reactors generating electricity.
Company officials say the plant would provide a much-needed domestic source of fuel for the nation’s 104 licensed nuclear power reactors, which provide about 20 percent of the nation’s electricity.
While many uncertainties shroud the proposal, which comes from a consortium of U.S and European energy companies, the governors’ group contends that a Union Pacific rail line – running parallel to Interstate 70 – would not be the best route to ship depleted uranium waste generated from the proposed facility.
“One characteristic of depleted uranium hexafluoride is when it gets in contact with moisture, it turns into an acid,” said Bill Mackie, the association’s program manager for nuclear waste transportation. “If either a truck or train caught fire, emergency responders need to know that if they hit it with water there’s going to be a serious problem.”
If depleted uranium hexafluoride reacts with water, toxic hydrofluoric acid forms. The acid is extremely corrosive and, if inhaled in high concentrations, can damage the lungs or cause death, scientists say.
Under the plan before federal regulators, the consortium, led by Louisiana Energy Services, proposes to build the nation’s first commercial gas centrifuge enrichment plant in Eunice, N.M., just south of Hobbs, N.M.
As part of the licensing process, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in September issued a preliminary environmental impact study showing depleted uranium waste from the plant – “deconverted” at a proposed plant in Ohio – being transported on rail lines that run parallel to Interstates 70 and 80 through Colorado and Wyoming.
Ultimately, the tracks lead to radioactive waste dumps in Washington, Nevada and Utah.
Trucks could also be used to transport enriched uranium up Interstate 25 through Colorado to a fuel manufacturing plant in Richland, Wash., the study shows. Using truck – not rail – is actually the company’s preferred transportation method.
“I think in any case it will come through Colorado,” Mackie said.
That’s not necessarily true, said April Wade, a Louisiana Energy Services spokeswoman.
She said the proposed transportation routes and disposal options mentioned in the preliminary study could change by the time the Nuclear Regulatory Commission finishes processing the company’s application, tentatively set for 2006.
Nonetheless, the study raises lots of questions- such as the feasibility of shipping radioactive waste on rail lines with a history of derailments, Mackie said.
“If memory serves correct, there have been three coal-train accidents on that stretch, and each sent diesel fuel and coal into the river,” Mackie said.
A Union Pacific spokesman acknowledged two derailments last year on that particular track but said that is not an unusually large number.
Rod Krich, Louisiana Energy Services’ vice president for licensing, safety and nuclear engineering, said that before the depleted uranium waste is transported to Utah or anywhere else for disposal, it would first be “deconverted” to a form that’s chemically similar to the mined ore and wouldn’t produce a dangerous acid.
“The point … is we’re not adding any type of material that’s not already coming across your highways,” Krich said.
The big hitch to Louisiana Energy Services’ plan: There currently is no facility in the nation that could process its depleted uranium for disposal, company officials acknowledge.
“New Mexico has a long history with nuclear waste, and our concern is that they can’t tell us how they plan to get rid of it,” said Amy Williams, a spokeswoman for Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety in Santa Fe. “We’re scared that it could sit in Lea County forever.With a half life of 24,000 years – that’s a long time.”