Close scrutiny of nuclear waste move needed

A risky procedure is planned for this spring at a nuclear waste dump in Vermont that’s 3 miles from Massachusetts and a stone’s throw from New Hampshire. If the operation goes wrong, thousands of people could be killed. A group based in Shelburne Falls, Mass., near Greenfield, will probably organize a march to call for children at the elementary school directly across the street from the dump to be taken further away during the procedure, which involves moving hundreds of tons of nuclear waste from a water-filled pool seven stories above ground into so-called “dry casks” at ground level.

Another goal of the march would be to get the government to come up with a realistic plan to notify people in case of an accident, and to evacuate school children, people at nursing homes, and others who don’t have a car. The group is called Citizens Awareness Network. It has a web site at www.NukeBusters.org.

The nuclear waste dump was formerly known as the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. The reactor was closed in 2014, thanks to thousands of people who attended marches and rallies, and hundreds who were arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience.

CAN helped organize a protest against Vermont Yankee in Brattleboro in 2012 that drew 1,500 people, 137 of whom were arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience. A CAN worker recently contacted the newly elected Vermont attorney general, and the relevant employees of the newly elected Vermont governor, about these issues.

Nuclear waste is the most deadly material on earth. The waste is so dangerous that it must be guarded 24 hours a day for the next 1 million years, according to the federal government. The prevailing wind is from the west, which would blow radioactivity toward Keene.

A serious accident at the Indian Point nuclear power plant near New York City would kill 50,000 people and result in 100,000 “radiation injuries” and $300 billion in property damage. That’s according to “Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences (CRAC 2),” a study prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for Congress. It was cited by Elizabeth Kolbert in her article “Indian Point Blank,” which was published in The New Yorker magazine on March 3, 2003.

The same study says a major accident at Vermont Yankee would cause 7,000 “prompt fatalities.” There is at least 10 times more nuclear waste at the Vermont Yankee site now than when the study was released.

EESHA WILLIAMS

Dummerston, Vt.