In Quietly Released Environmental Document, DOE Refuses to Analyze Disposal of Canadian Liquid High-Level Nuclear Waste in Canada, Supports Processing and Dumping at Savannah River Site —
Under Guise of Nuclear Non-Proliferation, New “Supplement Analysis” Dodges Substantive Discussion of Terrorist Risks and Environmental Impacts
photo: Peace Bridge between Buffalo, New York & Ontario, Canada, over which 150 unnecessary liquid nuclear waste transports could be made from Chalk Rivers Labs in Ontario to the Savannah River site in South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina – The U.S. Department of Energy has secretly conducted and quietly released a flawed environmental analysis which affirms the controversial plan to import liquid high-level nuclear waste from Canada for processing and dumping at DOE’s Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina.
Not wanting to draw further attention to the associated terrorist threat and environmental risks of the import of liquid high-level nuclear waste from Canada’s Chalk River Laboratories, the environmental document was quietly posted on the DOE’s Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance website on Wednesday, December 2, 2015, the day of the terrorist attack in California. In a manner that undermines government openness, the document was posted without a news release or public notice or email alert about it.
“Nation’s homeland security experts to meet in Buffalo in 2017,” Buffalo (New York) News, December 4, 2015 – linked here
“Experience is the greatest determinant of effectiveness in counterterrorism, and a conference like this is valuable for sharing experiences among first-responders, emergency planners and others,” said Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo.
Higgins is the top Democrat on the Homeland Security subcommittee that oversees America’s intelligence operations. He said Buffalo makes an appropriate place for discussing homeland security given its location. Among other things, he cited the radioactive nuclear waste scheduled to cross the Peace Bridge by truck starting next year in trips from Ontario to South Carolina.
Those trips could be delayed following approval in October of a congressional bill sponsored by Higgins that will require that federal Homeland Security officials conduct a terror threat assessment on the transport of hazardous materials. He and others are concerned that the truck trips could create an inviting target for terrorists.