The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held public hearings recently in Salt Lake City and Grantsville to hear public comment and testimony on the NRC's draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the above-ground "temporary" storage of high level waste in the form of spent nuclear fuel rods. The proposed storage site is on about 800 acres of land managed by the Skull Valley Band of the Goshute Native Americans.
This proposed site is in Skull Valley, Tooele County and about 45 miles west and upwind of Salt Lake City. The proposal includes transport of high level waste cross-country on existing rail lines for about 20 years.
The NRC appears poised to approve this insane proposal. Although public opposition is enormous and far outweighs the proponents, the NRC is cramming this down our throats and granting very few public hearings.
Here are some facts:
1. The spent fuel rods are generated by mostly East coast nuclear-power plants.
2. One fuel rod has a useful life of only 2 years. A spent fuel rod is many times more radioactive than a fresh one.
3. The East coast power plants that are generating this material have sufficient space, technology and expertise to continue storing their own waste.
If you are opposed to this proposal, please voice your concerns to your local and national officials. And get informed and educated (not bamboozled) by reading the Downwinders Web site at www.downwinders.org and try to read the DEIS on the NRC's Web site at www.nrc.gov/NRC/NUREGS/SR1714/index.html. If you are for this proposal and truthfully informed to believe it is safe, then you have nothing to gain or lose if the waste stays where it is, and you have just wasted your time.
Robin D. Jenkins
Erda