The word at Bexar County Commissioners Court is 'No Nukes,' as Commissioners pass a resolution opposing the transport of low level nuclear waste, by train or highway, through the County on the way to a proposed West Texas waste site that could be open as soon as 2021, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert says spent nuclear fuel rods from at least 62 different sites from around the country will be shipped to the facility, which is planned for Andrews County in remote West Texas. “
A single train car would carry as much plutonium as was contained in the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. San Antonio doesn't need the risks of having this waste rumbling through on railways. With our history of derailments and lack of infrastructure support, it’s too much of a risk for Military City USA," Calvert said.
The proposed facility would handle 5,000 tons of nuclear waste, and, according to an application now on file with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, that amount could be raised to 40,000 tons over the next forty years.
A Department of Energy study found that a small amount of radioactivity could contaminate as much as a 42-square miles with a cost of $9.5 billion per square mile in large cities like San Antonio.
“Due to the large size of the shipments it makes our community extremely vulnerable to not only unnecessary risk of accidents, but also terrorism activity, including drone attacks, as the waste would likely travel near our military bases,” Calvert explained. "Tare all reasons to say no and I am grateful to have the support of my colleagues on the court”.
"Bexar County Commissioners Court did the right thing today”, said Tom ‘Smitty’ Smith of Public Citizen's Texas Office, “citizens in Bexar County and Andrews County have begun to speak out against this plan and we hope they will be joined by Texans across the state”.
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