More than 20 trucks carrying highly radioactive cesium will be crossing a corner of Utah over a period of several years starting in October, but the chairman of the Governor's Advisory Panel on Science and Technology says citizens should not be alarmed.
Eugene C. Loh, a physicist at the University of Utah, said 307 capsules containing cesium would be sent across the state, at about 14 per truck. Each container is only about 1 foot by 6 inches.The shipments are sent in "special trucks and under great care," Loh told the Deseret News. "A little bit of the route goes through our state."
The trucks will drive into Utah through Echo Canyon on I-80, head along I-84 through Weber Canyon, go north into Ogden on I-15, then veer to the northwest on I-84. They will leave the state near Snowville, Box Elder County, and enter Idaho.
Cesium is used for such projects as irradiating food to kill bacteria. The capsules being shipped are defective ones, which the U.S. Department of Energy has decided to dispose of at the government's nuclear reservation near Hanford, Wash.
"Utah has asked to participate in it (the program) to ensure that the shipments go through Utah without incident," said Loh.
The state is well equipped to provide safe passage, he said. The DOE funded training for Utahns who might have to deal with a nuclear accident with a grant for about $150,000.
Members of the science council reviewed the project and gave it a clean bill of health, he said.
Asked if the shipments pose a danger, he said, "I don't think so. DOE has spent an enormous amount of money designing safety caskets, and their trucks are fully equipped with radio, satellite transponders, and shortwave communications devices."
Agency officials in Denver will monitor the shipments throughout their journey.
"Utah has been organized quite a few years for similar shipments," Loh said.
Each cask carrying the cesium "is designed such that it is tremendously robust and it doesn't break," Loh said. "The fact that they're shipping it at all means they have developed a container."