'Hot Spot' in Nuclear Waste Shipment Underscores Yucca Mountain Concern

摘要

A radioactive "hot spot" discovered in a nuclear waste shipment in South Carolina is being cited by Nevada's top nuclear safety official as fresh evidence of the folly of plans to transport thousands of tons of even-more-dangerous material to Yucca Mountain if a repository is built there. The incident in April, first publicized this week by anti-nuclear groups, involved highly enriched uranium liquid waste trucked from Canada to the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina. The "hot spot"-an area of unexpectedly high radiation levels-was blamed on a defective, lead "pig" container that shields workers when waste is moved from inside transportation casks.