ML18338A633
| ML18338A633 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Consolidated Interim Storage Facility |
| Issue date: | 11/08/2018 |
| From: | Public Commenter Public Commenter |
| To: | NRC/NMSS/FCSS |
| NRC/NMSS/FCSS | |
| References | |
| 83FR44922 | |
| Download: ML18338A633 (2) | |
Text
1 WCS_CISFEISCEm Resource From:
C D Carson <publius@man-and-atom.info>
Sent:
Thursday, November 8, 2018 8:10 PM To:
WCS_CISFEIS Resource
Subject:
[External_Sender] NRC Docket 72-1050 NRC 2016-0231 / NRC - WCS EIS 2018 Esteemed Commissioners :
I find myself deeply dismayed by efforts to block the movement of spent nuclear fuel, a vital energy resource for our nation's future, to a central storage site. Groups with names such as "Beyond Nuclear" or "Nuclear Information Research Service", which seem to exist with for no other reason than to mislead the public and create needless controversy, are making absurd, sensationalistic claims, which seems to be their stock in trade. The dishonesty of these campaigners, who assert that there is no solution to the problem of nuclear waste, and then take every opportunity to block progress toward reasonable treatment of spent fuel, is incredible. Their scare-lines, "Mobile Chernobyls" and other such ludicrous phrases, are nothing short of revolting.
It is now more than three quarters of a century since the achievement of the controlled fission chain reaction in uranium, and some sixty years since the first commercial nuclear generating stations began supplying electricity to the homes and industries of our nation. All experience has shown that fission, contrary to some early worries, is the safest and cleanest means of supplying energy on the scale required to support our civilization. These campaigners, by their largely-successful attempts to inflict upon the atomic energy industry a death of a thousand cuts, have not merely placed our country in an invidious economic position, but have helped set the scene for a global environmental catastrophe, in which ever-growing quantities of fossil fuels strain our biosphere beyond its capacity to adapt.
When reviewing comments on the present action, and in the future, I urge you to consider the source, and the gravity of the duties you are charged with. Atomic energy, contrary to the claims of the fearmongers, has proven itself far easier to manage than any alternative. If the only arguments brought against it consist of half-truths, distortions, outright fabrications, and statements with no factual value at all, the responsibility of preserving our society and our natural environment dictates that such ill-founded and artificially-induced "expressions of concern" should not become the basis of regulation.
To give just one example, these antinuclear campaigners make much of the danger of conveying a few thousand casks of spent nuclear fuel by rail, ignoring the daily traffic of tens of thousands of carloads of coal, and the excellent safety record of nuclear fuel shipments for well over half a century. Nuclear electricity, of course, is a direct substitute for electricity generated by burning thermal coal. The trade-off is obvious, and has been well known from the very beginning : one thumb-sized oxide pellet to each tonne of coal, more or less. If we took coal trains off the rails, more high-value freight could be carried, meaning fewer trucks on the roads, and fewer traffic fatalities. While this argument may seem remote, at least the chain is simple and easy to follow, requiring no bizarre low-probability or physically-impossible events of the kind nuclear opponents always feel the need to invoke.
Therefore I urge you to permit this interim storage facility to proceed, barring the remote chance that real problems of a severity which would stop development in (for instance) the petroleum industry arise.
Respectfully Christopher Carson Box 1035 Fort Worth Texas 76101 USA
Federal Register Notice:
83FR44922 Comment Number:
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