The Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee held its spring meeting on June 18-19, 2008, in Indianapolis.  Chaired by senior co-chair from Missouri, Jane Beetem (right), the meeting included updates from DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), EM Office of Packaging and Transportation, and the Carlsbad Field Office.  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Earl Easton briefed the committee on the Commission's timeline for reviewing OCRWM's license application to construct a repository at Yucca Mountain.  Tye Rogers with EnergySolutions presented information to the committee about the company's proposal to import foreign low-level radioactive waste for treatment and disposal in the U.S.  And the committee welcomed Rod McCullum from the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), who shared with the states the nuclear industry's perspectives on spent nuclear fuel storage and disposal.

During the business session, the committee approved changes to the region's Planning Guide for Shipments of Radioactive Materials through the Midwestern States.  The committee also organized an ad hoc working group to identify and prioritize transportation-related issues stemming from the Yucca Mountain repository project.  The ad hoc working group will also identify potential issues for the committee to raise to the attention of the Midwestern Governors Association and the Midwestern Legislative Conference.

All follow-up materials will be available on CSG Midwest's transportation project web site by mid-July.  Action items and speaker presentations are already posted.

Action items from the spring committee meeting
Spring meeting follow-up page

Mark your calendars for the committee's fall meeting, which will take place on December 17-18, 2008, in the Chicago area.  Look for a meeting announcement to come out in early September.

A week before the committee's meeting, and just a stone's throw from the Midwest's border, the CSG Northeast High-Level Radioactive Waste Transportation Task Force met in Pittsburgh on June 10-11.  The task force meeting featured a panel discussion between representatives of OCRWM, the NRC, and NEI.  The states also heard from representatives of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, DOE's Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, and the Federal Railroad Administration. 

Several Northeast Task Force members raised concerns about NEI's recent initiative to recruit community volunteers to host interim storage facilities for spent fuel -- namely, that the effort would be a distraction from the more pressing problem of where to dispose of the waste.  They urged NEI to rethink its approach and to throw more support behind the Yucca Mountain repository program.  A DOE representaive confirmed that, while OCRWM still officially maintains the position that the repository will be open for operation in 2017, 2020 is a "practical switch" that might become official once OCRWM finishes "rebaselining" the project.  The same representative also confirmed that OCRWM will, indeed, accept dual-purpose casks from utilities when the time comes.  In return, OCRWM will expect utilities to place future discharges directly into the program's future transportation, aging, and disposal (TAD) canisters.

A Pennsylvania representative at the meeting reported that OCRWM Director Ward Sproat and two of his assistants had visited the state for the purpose of drumming up support for the Yucca Mountain license application.  It is possible that future state visits will take place, particularly to the larger "nuclear-energy states" in the nation.  The regional staff will work with their OCRWM counterparts in the coming weeks on a better approach to coordinating with the regional projects on this type of outreach so that committee members can be prepared.

To view follow-up materials from the meeting, including a summary, visit the Northeast Task Force web site.

Immortalized in song we have such greats as the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, the "A" train, and the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe.  In writing we have the Orient Express, the Polar Express, and the Little Engine that Could.  And now, on screen, ranking right up there with Buster Keaton's "The General" for its comic potential, we have a new entry into the pantheon of memorable trains -- the History Channel's Glow Train.

Part of the "Mega Disaster" series, the History Channel's "Glow Train Catastrophe" isn't like the 1999 made-for-TV movie Atomic Train, which was obviously fiction.  Instead, Glow Train Catastrophe is presented as a documentary -- a documentary with all the sinister voice-overs, fiery explosions, and fast action of a movie trailer for the latest box office smash from Hollywood (except that it lasts for 45 minutes).  After describing the federal government's plan to ship 77,000 tons of waste by rail to Yucca Mountain, the narrator asks, "If the government's strategy is realized, will the country's rail lines and the communities they serve be the site of the next mega disaster?"  Perhaps you can guess how the show answered that question.

The episode brings together a veritable "who's who" of radioactive waste transportation experts.  Nevada's Bob Halstead and Fred Dilger lay out the scary "what if" scenarios, DOE's Gary Lanthrum counters as the confident federal-guy-in-charge, and the NRC's Earl Easton makes an appearance as the government scientist who thinks "anything that reduces the number of shipments...reduces the risk."  The states get a nod from Gary in his comment that DOE is "always looking for ways to improve communication and collaboration with the states as we plan these shipments."  Sure to become a cult classic among the nuclear waste transportation crowd, the show will air again on July 8 at 11 p.m. and, for night owls, July 9 at 3 a.m. (both times Eastern).  It's also available for immediate download from iTunes or, if you don't have iTunes and don't mind waiting, on DVD from the History Channel. 

Read the Las Vegas Sun's editorial on the episode
Read NEI's blog entry on the episode

Anyone who has experienced the glacial pace at which the federal agency concurrence process proceeds knows that good things come to those who wait.  And wait.  And wait.  A good demonstration of this principle played out on June 4th when, at long last, DOE approved the revised Radioactive Material Transportation Practices Manual.  Committee members might recall that a trio of members -- Robert Owen (Ohio), Jane Beetem, and Thor Strong (Michigan) -- worked with the DOE staff and others to revise the original manual.  That work concluded in the fall of 2006, and the draft revision had been undergoing internal DOE review ever since. 

The revised manual states DOE's commitment, as a shipper, to "achieve a level of protection that meets or exceeds the level of protection associated with comparable commercial shipments."  According to the introductory section of the manual, although the document does apply to shipments conducted under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (i.e., "shipments to Yucca Mountain"), "it does so without any detailed specificity since the operational plans have yet to be developed."  Once those operational plans are developed, DOE will amend the manual.