Welcome to the CSG Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee Update. Below are links and summaries of several important happenings from the last few weeks. Please don't hesitate to contact Lisa (920/458-5910) or Sarah (630/925-1922) with any questions or concerns about any of these issues.

Welcome New Members!

We are pleased to announce the addition of two new legislative members to the committee. Midwestern Legislative Conference Chair Sen. Patty Birkholz recently appointed Rep. Careen Gordon from Illinois and Sen. Steve Buehrer from Ohio to the committee. The addition of Rep. Gordon and Sen. Buehrer brings the number of legislative members up to 8 - the largest in committee history!

Click here to see an updated committee roster.

Click here to go to the committee homepage.

It's TRU, the WIPP road show is on its way...

On August 20th, State of Illinois personnel will converge on Argonne National Laboratories to view and learn about the RH-72B transportation cask and the trailer that will haul it. While the cask will be empty on this day, eventually it will carry remote-handled (RH) transuranic waste from Argonne to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico. RH waste is different from the vast majority of waste going to WIPP because the dose rate at the surface of the disposal container is high enough that it cannot be handled directly by workers. Once at WIPP, the packages are placed in bore holes in the walls instead of in the regular disposal rooms.

DOE anticipates starting RH shipments from Argonne in November, with about two shipments leaving the site per month. The shipments will pass through Iowa and Nebraska on the way to WIPP, and so the cask and trailer road show will also make stops in those states. DOE will make stops in Des Moines, Lincoln, Grand Island and North Platte before heading back to WIPP.

For more information on WIPP's remote-handled waste program, click here.

For more information on the RH-72B transportation cask, click here.

Work Groups Get to Work

After several months of relative quiet, the committee work groups are back in action, taking on several large and very important projects. Below is a short summary of the goal and schedule of each work group. As the products of these groups are finalized, we will feature a newsletter article about each.

Routing Work Group
Goal: submit comments on DOE's draft routing principles.
Schedule: comments are due August 15, 2007.

Security Work Group
Goal: submit comments on the draft Information Sharing Protocol.
Schedule: comments are due August 25, 2007.

Transportation Planning Work Group
Goal: submit comments on the draft national transportation plan.
Schedule: comments are due September 6, 2007.

180(c) Work Group
Goal: submit comments on the 180(c) policy and procedures draft Federal Register notice.
Schedule: comments are due October 22, 2007.

If you have questions about any of the work groups, please contact Lisa or Sarah.

Thanks for reading! Look for the next issue in two weeks!

Sincerely,
Lisa Janairo and Sarah Wochos
Committee Staff