OAK RIDGE ? The Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) may soon become the repository and recycling center for nuclear waste shipped in from all over the world. Rail and highway routes presently approved for nuclear waste shipments are less than eight miles from Rutledge via Jefferson County but waste is also approved for transport along 25e, less than a mile from Bean Station, en route to connections at I-40 and rail.

Local residents, environmentalists, and scientists making statements at a recent public hearing for the Global Energy Partnership (GNEP) proposal by the Department of Energy (DOE) on February 13th expressed concerns that transportation of waste will not only provide more terrorist targets for attack but may also make nuclear waste that can be used in nuclear bombs or nuclear waste ?dirty bombs? that much easier to steal. When nuclear waste was shipped to ORNL during the cold war era, many local residents were said to have worried about the risk of exposure due to leakage. Leakage has not been an issue thus far, however, after 9/11, the risk of attack along the transportation route provoked the question at the hearing of whether or not the containers that encase the nuclear waste will be able to withstand the impact of an airplane or other methods of ?malicious ingenuity?.

Several East Tennessee residents, upon learning about the GNEP proposal and the recent hearing were concerned that they had not known about the hearing in time to attend and wanted their objections noted.

?The GNEP is a bad idea. It is dangerous for all of East Tennessee, particularly people living in Oak Ridge and West and North Knoxville. It is not economically justifiable and it is an inappropriate use of government funds,? said Stephen Clements, a farmer in Jefferson County, whose farm is located approximately two miles from an approved transport route.

On the other side of Clinch Mountain, Grainger County resident Bill Nickle was concerned. ?We don?t want to see that, especially with the state of the highway system now. A GNEP facility at ORR is totally out of the question. It?s not worth the risk.?

Nancy Bell of the Friends of the Clinch and Powell Rivers said, ?It would be dangerous to be on the highway. I have to travel that way regularly with my daughter and I?d be worried.?

Hogskin Valley resident, Marcus Keyes said he was concerned about risk of regional groundwater contamination due to seismic activity if there ended up being long term nuclear waste storage at Oak Ridge but added, ?I would worry about the kids in the communities along the route who are aware that this is a constant part of their reality. Reminds me of living under the continual threat of nuclear attack during the ?duck and cover? days of the sixties.?

The planned completion time of the GNEP project is a long time off (2025) but the decision as to whether or not ORR will be allowed to resume its prominent role in nuclear fission research is being made now and the public may take part in the process.

Since November, the DOE has announced a total of 16 locations around the country that have been selected and have been allocated over 10 million in grants as potential GNEP sites. The grants will enable the candidate sites to conduct intensive site studies to determine their suitability for the establishment of up to three types of nuclear waste recycling-related facilities. The ORR was among the first sites granted under consideration and is being considered for all three types of facilities:

1. A nuclear fuel waste recycling center ? accepts nuclear fuel waste from existing U.S. nuclear power plants as well as from power plants around the world and separates the usable components from the waste for U.S. use and also, for resale back to developing third world countries.

2. An advanced recycling reactor ? a state-of-the art sodium-cooled power plant that destroys long-lived radioactive elements in the recycled waste fuel while generating electricity.

3. An advanced fuel cycle research facility ? anticipated to serve reactor fuels research for the next 50 years.

According to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the DOE must prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) before the final Record of Decision to determine the impact of their proposal on the environment. The term ?environment? applies to both people and the ecology of the region that may be affected. The public scoping process of the PEIS is still open for public comments. To add a comment to the official record regarding the environmental impact of ORR site selection, direct comments, suggestions, or relevant information to:

Additional information on GNEP may be found at www.gnep.energy.gov. COMMENTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY APRIL 4TH, 2007.