Group warns of trouble with nuclear waste transport

An environmental watchdog group stopped in Des Moines this week to draw attention to shipments of nuclear waste that will travel through the state. Deb Katz says Interstate-80 is one route likely for radioactive waste from the East Coast to proposed dumpsites in Nevada or Utah. She says they estimate eight thousand shipments of dangerous waste will come through Iowa.Katz is director of “CAN,” the Citizens Awareness Network, and says she knows the casks used to carry nuclear waste are supposed to be tough. But she says tests have shown they’re not as strong as they should be.And Katz says even the special containers don’t completely protect passersby from radiation from nuclear waste that could be trucked down Iowa highways.She says you get the equivalent of a chest x-ray if you’re six to ten feet away from a cask.Jane Majors of Des Moines appeared with the group at Wednesday’s protest, and said some people would like to go a step farther than stopping the transport of waste, and simply ban any future nuclear plants. Then, she says, there would be no more radioactive waste created from their spent fuel.