- Terrorism isn't even necessary according to Dr. Gordon
Thompson. NRC has discovered that spent fuel can self-ignite. This is
applicable
at Indiat Point and everywhere, not "just" in Vermont.
-
- There are many ways to sabotage a spent fuel pool, he
said, and thousands of people have the necessary skill and
knowledge.
-
- "All that's necessary to ignite this fuel is just
to discharge the water," he said. "(The fuel rods) will
self-ignite
and burn ... it's thought that it would be something like a smoking
charcoal
grill."
-
- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has also found
that spent fuel could self-ignite and burn. According to Thompson's
analysis,
an area slightly smaller than that of the three surrounding states -- about
25,000 square miles -- would be rendered uninhabitable by such a
fire.
-
- "It is clear," he said, "that this would
be a disaster of historic proportions."
-
-
- Terrorist Threat Real Say
Expert
- By Meggan Clark
Brattleboro Reformer Staff
3-1-2
-
- BRATTLEBORO - A fire in the
spent fuel pool at Vermont Yankee nuclear power station could render an
area nearly the size of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts
uninhabitable,
a Cambridge, Mass., nuclear expert told local residents Thursday
night.
-
- The terrifying potential consequences of a terrorist
attack on the Vernon reactor were spelled out in detail by Gordon Thompson,
an Oxford University-educated expert who has done work for government and
non-government organizations around the world. Thompson is the executive
director of the non-profit Institute for Resource and Security Studies.
His talk was sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church and the Peace
and Justice Committee.
-
- A sober, intent audience of more than 60 questioned
Thompson
for longer than two hours, seeking to understand whether the spent fuel
will ever be taken away, how the risks can be mitigated, and where more
information could be found.
-
- Leaflets in favor of the non-binding town meeting
referendum
to block the proposed sale and shut Yankee down as soon as possible were
in every hand. But there was only one overtly political comment, from a
man who said his version of "Take Vermont Forward" was "Take
Vermont Three Words: Shut Yankee Down."
-
- "If you shut the plant down," Thompson replied,
"the danger of the spent fuel will remain." Although President
Bush has recommended that Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, be the site of a
permanent
repository for all the nation's high-level radioactive waste, it faces
a number of technical and legal challenges. The earliest anyone predicts
it could begin accepting spent fuel is 2010; some believe it will never
be completed. The alternative is to maintain radioactive used fuel
indefinitely
on-site at the nation's reactors.
-
- Vermont Yankee's spent fuel pool is a concrete swimming
pool-like structure next to the reactor vessel, about 50 feet above the
ground. More than 2,500 spent fuel assemblies, weighing about 700 pounds
each, are stored there, cooled by circulating water tinged a deep blue
with boron. The pool has been re-racked to hold many more assemblies than
was originally intended, and is due to run out of space in 2008.
-
- Because the water blocks virtually all of the assemblies'
radioactivity, a visitor to the plant can stand at the edge of the pool
and look straight down into it without harm.
-
- But the top of the reactor building, which stands between
the pool and the sky, was described by Thompson as "simply a sheet
metal roof." And, although the industry claims that reactors and spent
fuel pools are encased in 10 feet or more of steel and concrete, Thompson
called this "at best a half-truth." There are many ways to
sabotage
a spent fuel pool, he said, and thousands of people have the necessary
skill and knowledge.
-
- "All that's necessary to ignite this fuel is just
to discharge the water," he said. "(The fuel rods) will
self-ignite
and burn ... it's thought that it would be something like a smoking
charcoal
grill." The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has also found that
spent fuel could self-ignite and burn.
-
- According to Thompson's analysis, an area slightly
smaller
than that of the three surrounding states -- about 25,000 square miles
-- would be rendered uninhabitable by such a fire. Although residents would
not know that their environment was contaminated by tiny particles of
radioactive
material, Thompson said, "they will stick to your roof, your driveway,
your clothes if you're outside, your lawn. Some of them will stay there
for a very long time, for decades."
-
- "It is clear," he said, "that this would
be a disaster of historic proportions."
-
- Until now, federal nuclear regulators have not
investigated
the potential consequences of a terrorist attack on a commercial reactor.
Nor have the nation's reactors been designed to withstand or defend against
an attack by terrorists as sophisticated as those of Sept. 11, or an attack
by a hostile nation.
-
- On Wednesday, Vermont Yankee spokesman Rob Williams
described
the reactor as "extremely strong" but said, "I want to make
clear that we do not have an analysis for large aircraft."
-
- "The enemies of the state are the purview of the
defense department," Williams said.
-
- Thompson said the best thing to minimize the risk would
be to remove the spent fuel rods to dry cask storage, in which rods are
placed in air-cooled casks outside. This would remove the risk of water
loss, but it wouldn't remove all risk; an NRC study indicates that, if
detonated with TNT, fuel in casks could also be very destructive.
-
- Asked what he would like to see happen to operating
reactors
in the future, Thompson said he'd like to see "the public ...
presented
with an accurate picture of the risk and the true costs of nuclear power
plants. That is not the case now."
-
- Rosemary Bassilakis & Sal Mangiagli
- Citizens Awareness Network
- 54 Old Turnpike Road
- Haddam, CT 06438
-
- Ph/fax 860 345-2157
- ctcan@snet.net
- www.nukebusters.org
|
