West Texas nuclear waste plan prompts fears of radioactive trains in Fort Worth
A plan to transport 5,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste from across the country to sites on the Texas-New Mexico border poses a particular danger to Fort Worth, a group of environmental activists opposed to the plan said Thursday.
The destination for much of the nuclear waste is Andrews County, where Waste Control Specialists already operates a toxic waste site. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is considering a similar plan from nuclear company Holtec for a high-level waste storage facility in southeastern New Mexico. While the nuclear waste is concerning for residents of West Texas and eastern New Mexico, Fort Worth residents should also be worried, said Lon Burnam, a former state representative and the chair of the Tarrant Coalition for Environmental Awareness.
With today’s rail traffic, Burnam said trains hauling the nuclear waste may have to stop overnight in Metroplex rail yards like the massive Union Pacific Davidson Yard south of the Cultural District.
“These canisters can sit here and leak radiation without anyone knowing,” Burnam said.
Burnan and a group of activists gathered Thursday at Rogers Roundhouse, which overlooks the Davidson rail yard to listen to a Nuclear Regulation Commission hearing regarding the plan. The commission took public comment during the hearing. In May, commission staff members recommended the approval of the license in their draft environmental impact report, which also found that the plan would cause small or moderate impacts on public health and air quality, among other issues.
Texans have until Nov. 3 to submit online public comments on the report, which may be the last chance that the public has to voice opposition or support for the application.
High-level nuclear waste refers to spent, or used, reactor fuel and waste materials. The radioactive waste poses potentially harmful effects to humans and decreases in radioactivity as it decays, which can take hundreds of thousands of years, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that regulates nuclear power plants and the storage and disposal of waste.
Susybelle Gosslee, chairwoman for hazardous waste for the League of Women Voters, was critical of any plan that would ship toxic waste through major cities, including Dallas-Fort Worth.
The majority of the waste comes from eastern nuclear power plants, she said, suggesting that the waste either be stored on site, where there are already measures for containment, or at locations near the power plants.
“Texas should not have to pay when they didn’t even get the benefit of the electricity,” she said “We have to look at this as what is best for the country, what is best for all of the people.”
Beyond concerns for the waste moving through Fort Worth, John MacFarlane, chairman of the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club, said he’s worried about the communities on the Texas-New Mexico border near the dump sites. Toxic waste often is dumped near poor, minority areas, he said. About 56% of Andrews County’s roughly 14,700 residents reported being Hispanic, according to a 2019 U.S. Census estimate. The median household income was about $74,000.
“We need a long term storage plan that is geologically safe and environmentally just,” MacFarlane said, adding that sites in Nevada were safer and away from populations.
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 2:21 PM.
