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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 20, 2005
10:10 AM
CONTACT: Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Debby Katz, CAN 413-339-5781
Linda Gunter, NIRS 202-328-0002

Study Confirms Public Concern Over Nuclear Fuel Pools. Coalition Demands NRC Move Waste from Vulnerable Reactor Pools


WASHINGTON -- April 20 -- A coalition of watchdog groups says a new study by the National Academy of Sciences supports a public petition demanding emergency action by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) at 32 reactors particularly vulnerable to acts of malice. The Nuclear Security Coalition, comprised of independent grassroots and public interest groups across the nation, said today that NAS confirmed the urgent need to reduce risks of terrorist attacks on reactor fuel pools, overcrowded with highly radioactive fuel rods, which could lead to catastrophic nuclear fires.

The coalition filed an emergency petition with NRC in August 2004 calling for priority action at 32 General Electric Boiling Water Reactors (BWR), where 'spent' fuel pools are located high inside unfortified buildings. Today, the groups filed supplemental information based on the Academy's findings that power plants — BWRs in particular — are desirable targets for terrorists, susceptible to a variety of plausible attacks, and that an attack could send plumes of radiation hundreds of miles downwind.

'Leaving the fuel in these vulnerable pools is like painting a bull's-eye on the reactor roof,' said Paul Gunter, director of the Reactor Watchdog Project at Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a coalition member. 'It's time for the NRC to stop shielding the financial interests of this industry and start protecting public health and safety.'

NAS — the nation's preeminent scientific body — urged prompt, interim action to reduce risks at the nation's reactor waste pools, and for timely, independent study to determine addi"