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NEWS RELEASE Contact: Nora Wilson
May 10, 2002 919-490-0747
NC COMMUNITIES UNPREPARED FOR NUCLEAR
WASTE TRANSPORT ACCIDENT
Citizens Call on Governor to Protect Public Health
DURHAM, NC - A new report indicates that a host of hazards could threaten high-level nuclear waste transports passing
through North Carolina communities, and that local officials are not prepared for potential radiation emergencies. The
report, released today by North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network (NC WARN), accompanied a letter to the
Governor calling for immediate action to stop the nuclear trains that pass through small communities each month en route
to the Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Wake County.
The shipments of nuclear fuel rods travel from Carolina Power and Light's Brunswick Plant in North Carolina and Robinson
Plant in South Carolina. Nuclear waste passes through the towns of Sanford, Lumberton, Pembroke, Southern Pines, and
Moncure (in eastern Chatham County), among others. The transports pass within 10 miles of the perimeter of Fort Bragg.
An analysis of the counties along the nuclear train route shows
that in the event of a radiation release, African Americans, American Indians, and low-income residents would be
disproportionately exposed.
Despite overt terrorist threats to nuclear facilities, and appeals the to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to
halt shipments pending evaluation of risks, the nuclear transports have continued since September 11th. NRC does not
test the security of nuclear waste shipments and has not evaluated the overall risk of terrorism. CP&L is the only
utility in the nation shipping high-level nuclear waste. In March, the vulnerability of the shipments was confirmed when
two escaped convicts boarded a train carrying high-level nuclear waste in Richmond County, NC.
"CP&L is shipping this deadly material across North Carolina to Shearon Harris for the company's financial gain and
externalizing the costs and risks onto rural, low-income North Carolinians. It is certainly unjust and, in these times
of terrorist threats, it is particularly dangerous," said Nora Wilson, a project organizer for NC WARN.
The NC WARN report details the inadequacies of the NRC's current licensing practices; high-level nuclear waste transport
casks like those used for transport between CP&L's plants are not physically tested. Near a severe transport accident,
radiation doses could be a thousand times what a person receives from background radiation in a year, and there is
potential for serious injuries and hundreds of latent cancer deaths. Interviews with emergency managers confirmed that
many were unaware of the risks posed by nuclear waste transports and were unprepared for a radiation release from a
transport cask.
"I am outraged that they have no emergency plan for a nuclear train accident. Prisoners have gotten onto transports,
the casks are permeable, and the trains come so close to houses and right past the post office. Every time I hear a
train whistle I wonder if it is a nuclear train," explained Judy Hogan, a community member in Moncure who lives less
than a mile from the train tracks.
In the letter to Governor Easley, NC WARN calls on him to take responsibility for the public health and safety of North
Carolinians and stop the nuclear waste shipments pending a full and open evaluation of the risks. Recently Easley deemed
high-level nuclear waste shipments within North Carolina a "federal issue", yet he wrote a letter of support for the
Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada, which is an out-of-state federal project.
"South Carolina Governor Hodges is taking real steps to protect his citizens from shipments of nuclear material and
we think Governor Easley should do the same," said Wilson.
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Judy Hogan can be reached at (919) 545-9932
View a copy of the report "Radioactive Railroads: A Report on the Risks
of High-Level Nuclear Waste Shipments in North Carolina"..
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