Nuclear Waste Storage Debate Rages On

None by KCPW

Terrorist Attacks On Nuclear Waste Storage Sites Have Not Been Considered

(KCPW News) Many local citizens are upset that Utah has been pegged as a main location for nuclear waste storage, but according to Sue Martin, spokeswomen for Private Fuel Storage, there is nothing for Utahns to worry about.

"[PFS] looked at all sorts of different natural and man-made disasters that could happen, and the facility is designed to comply with all the federal regulations that define the safety standards for nuclear facilities," says Martin. "So the bottomline is that there would be no emissions in the air that would harm the public".

Although the proposed PFS facility for Skull Valley meets current federal regulations, Jason Groenewold, director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, says federal regulations and the proposed facility do not take the possibility of terrorist attacks into account.

"I think Sue's comment of, ‘just trust us,' when it comes to protecting you from terrorist attacks is indicative of the history Utahns have had with fallout, whether it has been with nuclear weapons or nuclear power or nuclear waste in the past," Groenewold says, "that is, we have trusted people in the past and we have been harmed because of that trust."

The nuclear waste storage debate rages on but the very controversial Divine Strake test, a massive explosives test planned to take place in Nevada, has been indefinitely postponed.

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