ML20281A871
| ML20281A871 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Consolidated Interim Storage Facility |
| Issue date: | 09/17/2020 |
| From: | Public Commenter Public Commenter |
| To: | NRC/NMSS/DREFS |
| NRC/NMSS/DREFS | |
| References | |
| 85FR27447 | |
| Download: ML20281A871 (4) | |
Text
From:
Nicholas Littlejohn (nicklittlejohn@gmail.com) Sent You a Personal Message
<automail@knowwho.com>
Sent:
Thursday, September 17, 2020 2:23 PM To:
WCS_CISFEIS Resource
Subject:
[External_Sender] Docket
Reference:
NRC-2016-0231 Don?t dump on Texas --
Deny the radioactive waste storage license
Dear Reference Docket ID NRC-2016-0231,
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is currently considering turning an existing ?low-level?
radioactive waste site in west Texas into a much more dangerous high-level radioactive waste storage site. This new permit would allow the site to import the most dangerous types of waste from nuclear reactors across America, which would travel through major cities like San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Midland and Odessa, as well as highways and rail lines in New Mexico, Oklahoma and communities of color on the border between New Mexico and Texas.
This new permit is dangerous for thousands -- potentially millions -- because accidents could happen in transit. Placing even more dangerous waste in west Texas is an environmental injustice that will impact Black and brown communities who already bear an outsized burden of pollution. We need to tell the NRC that this is unacceptable. They are accepting public comments on the proposal's Environmental Impact Statement until November 3.
Can you join us and tell the NRC not to allow high-level nuclear waste to come to Texas?
If the private companies seeking the permit -- Waste Control Specialists and Interim Storage Project --
get their way, they would obtain a license from the NRC allowing them to store the irradiated cores and fuel rods from nuclear power plants in west Texas for at least 40 years. If this proposal is approved, toxic nuclear waste would be transported once through major cities to reach the west Texas site, and transported again if a final national disposal site ever gets licensed. There's no win here for our communities. Either they get stuck with dangerous nuclear waste forever, or they face the potential for catastrophic transport-related accidents twice.
Even worse, the NRC is seeking these comments in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic when public hearings in the most-impacted communities are not possible. So it's vitally important that we send in comments digitally. Please leave a comment now, and remember to make it personal so that the folks at the NRC understand this is an issue they can't ignore.
Dumping nuclear waste on the Southwest region would be a massive environmental injustice, but it wouldn't just impact us here in the region. Millions of people who live near ports and railroad tracks across the country would also be put at risk from leaks, accidents, or sabotage from irradiated fuels rods on their way here. Exposure to radiation is serious. It can lead to cancers, birth defects, and death.
Help protect your neighbors and communities nationwide. Prevent radioactive contamination by telling the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to halt this high-level radioactive waste storage licensing application immediately.
Please support neighbors and communities that would be impacted negatively by nuclear vs the profits of Wall Street polluters.
Office of Administration Mail Stop: TWFN-7-A60M Attn: Program Management, Announcements and Editing Staff U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 RE: Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), Docket No. 72-1050; NRC-2016-0231 Interim Storage Project?s license application to construct and operate a Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and Greater-Than Class C (GTCC) waste.
I oppose Interim Storage Project's plan to store dangerous high-level nuclear waste in Andrews County, Texas. This environmentally unjust plan would target a largely Latinx region of the country with the deadliest nuclear waste. The region is unsuitable for storing nuclear waste since it?s prone to earthquakes, sinkholes, temperature extremes, wildfires, intense storms and flooding. The hydrogeology of the site is still uncertain.
The NRC has ignored many key health and safety issues raised in thousands of previous comments and in 100 legal contentions, many of which were backed by expert testimony. The inadequate Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) shows that the NRC is still not addressing these concerns.
Some of the many concerns that have not been addressed by this application include:
- Threats from terrorism aren?t adequately addressed and the potential use of drones wasn?t considered.
- Transportation routes were not designated and accident risks have been artificially minimized.
- The DEIS fails to adequately analyze cumulative impacts of the proposed facility and nearby sites on workers, local people and the environment.
- The risks of creating a dangerous de facto permanent site were not included, and nuclear waste should not be moved across the country to a site not designed for permanent disposal.
This nation must end environmental injustice and halt disproportionate impacts on people of color.
Dumping the most toxic nuclear waste of a whole nation on the largely Latinx Southwest region is the height of environmental injustice. The site is only a few miles from communities like Eunice and Hobbs, New Mexico, and the waste would flow through many densely populated communities of color on its way there.
I oppose Consolidated Interim Storage at this, and other sites. The NRC should protect public health and safety, the economy and the environment, by halting the application process and denying the license for Consolidated Interim Storage.
Sincerely, Nicholas Littlejohn 1200 Barton Hills Austin, TX 78704 nicklittlejohn@gmail.com (512) 669-5400
This message was sent by KnowWho, as a service provider, on behalf of an individual associated with Sierra Club. If you need more information, please contact Lillian Miller at Sierra Club at core.help@sierraclub.org or (415) 977-5500.
Federal Register Notice:
85FR27447 Comment Number:
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Subject:
[External_Sender] Docket
Reference:
NRC-2016-0231 Don?t dump on Texas --
Deny the radioactive waste storage license Sent Date:
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