May 25, 2013
An environmental watchdog group said shipments of nuclear waste from Alabama's two nuclear power plants would travel on some rail, barge and highway routes through the state, beginning in 2010.
The Department of Energy plans to move the wastes from TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Athens and Alabama Power Company's Farley plant near Dothan for storage in underground facilities in Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Federal officials have not identified the travel routes.
But the Washington D.C.-based Environmental Working Group said rail lines in Limestone and Mobile counties, Interstate 65 heading north through Limestone County and Interstate 10 heading east through Mobile would meet federal safety standards for nuclear shipments.
EWG's spokeswoman Laura Chapin told a Tuscaloosa newspaper Wednesday that people should have the facts about the routes while the Bush administration seeks the approval of Congress for the Yucca Mountain facility.
In all, the report estimated that nuclear shipments on rail and truck would pass within a mile of 86,332 Alabama homes, as well as 71 schools and two hospitals.
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