Recent News
Oyez! Oyez! Hark! RWMA has moved to Vermont!
We've relocated from our New York City address, where we've been for 17 years, to sunny, greener Vermont. Please change your records.
|
Mailing: PO Box 105 Bellows Falls, VT 05101
|
FedEx & UPS: 18 The Square, Ste 26 Bellows Falls, VT 05101 |
| Phone: 802-732-8008 | Fax: 802-732-8118 |
Now Hiring -- Environmental Research Associate
We're looking for a bright creative researcher, grounded in science and math, to live in lovely green Vermont. Check out our available position! If you or someone you know is interested in joining our team, please send your resume to Edie Mayer.
Hawaii
Food Irradiator
Earthjustice Arguments Win the Day
On July 8th, the Nuclear Regulatory Commissioners acted on an appeal by the applicant, Paina Hawaii and the NRC staff. The applicant and NRC staff opposed a hearing panel’s decision to require an investigation of alternative sites and technologies and appealed to the Commissioners. Earthjustice had argued that the NRC should consider alternatives in an environmental assessment, and the Commissioners agreed.
Paina Hawaii has proposed that the food irradiator be built between two runways of the Honolulu airport. Earthjustice, supported by calculations and an affidavit by Dr. Marvin Resnikoff, showed that a site located a mere 10 miles away would lower the risks of a potential air crash by a factor of 1000.
As a result of the Commissioners decision, the environmental assessment must be rewritten to take these alternative factors into account. But the Commissioners went much further.
The Commissioners also ordered the hearing panel to hold an evidentiary hearing on the risk of transporting highly radioactive cobalt-60 rods to Honolulu. This goes to the issue of whether a cask that is designed to withstand a 30 mph crash could withstand an air crash, and the risk of transporting cobalt-60 by air. Some cobalt-60 rods may be flown from Russia to Honolulu. While the NRC staff has worked on the impact of highway and rail accidents while transporting radioactive nuclear fuel from reactors to Yucca Mountain, and the impact of air accidents involving plutonium, no NRC analysis has examined the environmental impact of an air crash involving cobalt-60 rods. This analysis may take several years to carry out.
Kudos to Earthjustice and Concerned Citizens of Honolulu for this impressive victory!
Newsletter
If you would like to know more about what we are currently up to, take a look at our latest newsletter. To be added to our mailing list, please send an email to edie.mayer@rwma.com, subject line "Mailing list".
