Castor Derailment Confirms GP Warnings on Nuclear Transport Haza

["Greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

CASTOR DERAILMENT CONFIRMS GREENPEACE WARNINGS ON THE HAZARDS 
OF NUCLEAR TRANSPORT
 
Hamburg, 04 February 1997.  Just one day after police ended a 
Greenpeace protest against the transport of highly radioactive 
spent fuel elements from the Kruemmel NPP to the British 
reprocessing facility at Sellafield, three railway cars loaded 
with spent nuclear fuel derailed in Apach (France) this 
morning. Each railcar carries one flask, each of which contains 
six spent fuel elements from Emsland NPP in Lower Saxony.
 
The accident happened during shunting at low speed. A 
derailment occurring at a higher speed (rail transports of 
highly radioactive materials often reach 100 km/h) or a 
possible collision with other trains transporting dangerous 
materials could lead to the catastrophic release of 
radioactivity.
 
On 15 January, a Castor railcar derailed during shunting in 
front of the Kruemmel NPP near Hamburg. Greenpeace protested 
for one week at the Kruemmel NPP against the transport of spent 
nuclear fuel to Sellafield.  The Castor flasks that left 
Kruemmel yesterday also crossed the German-French border today 
to reach the ferry to Sellafield from Dunkirk.
 
Greenpeace nuclear expert Dr. Helmut Hirsch said, "Castor tests 
do not reflect real catastrophe scenarios.  Castor flasks would 
not withstand a collision at high speed or a longer fire at 
high temperatures. Radioactivity would be released. Humans and 
the environment would be highly contaminated. These two recent 
derailings show that such accidents are possible at any time. 
The only conclusion is: nuclear transports must stop."
 
Greenpeace demands that spent fuel elements remain in each NPP 
on-site cooling pond. At the latest, when this is full, the 
nuclear power plant must be shut down.  This would make the 
hazardous transport of highly radioactive material unnecessary 
and would limit the amount of radwaste produced. After 
beginning to phase out nuclear power it would be necessary to 
make decisions on the disposal of existing radwaste.
 
For further information:
Dr. Helmut Hirsch, Greenpeace nuclear expert
        ++49-40-30618352
Ruediger Rosenthal, Greenpeace press officer
        ++49-40-30618342
Internet-Info
        http://www.greenpeace.de