And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Source: <A HREF="http://wire.ap.org/APnews/main.html?PACKAGEID=nuclear"> http://wire.ap.org/APnews/main.html?PACKAGEID=nuclear</A> ======================================================= MARCH 26, 11:18 EST Nuclear Waste Arrives at N.M. Dump By CHRIS ROBERTS Associated Press Writer CARLSBAD, N.M. (AP) � A big rig loaded with radioactive waste arrived today at the nation's first nuclear waste dump after a historic 270-mile journey through cheers, jeers and an attempted blockade. The truck left Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico and traveled south to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, a 7 1/2 -hour trip that followed a quarter-century of studies, protests and lawsuits. ``I'm ecstatic � this is just the culmination of everything I've worked for for 25 years,'' said Wendell Weart, a Sandia National Laboratories scientist who was instrumental in creating WIPP. The nuclear waste is expected to be buried early next week after arriving at the plant this morning. The $1.8 billion facility is designed to gather contaminated material from 23 sites spread across 16 states into a single depository carved out of ancient salt caverns nearly half a mile below ground. The sites are mainly Department of Energy installations and institutions that have DOE research contracts. An appellate court in Washington, D.C., and a federal judge in Santa Fe on Wednesday rejected last-ditch appeals from environmentalists who sought to scuttle the transfer. The driver gave a thumbs-up as he left Los Alamos on Thursday evening, and a crowd of about 100 people cheered in response. But down the road in Santa Fe, a hub of anti-WIPP sentiment, dozens of protesters lined the route holding up placards that read ``Stop Nuke Trucks'' and ``Science or Science Fiction?'' William Beems, 42, of Albuquerque, was arrested after he tried to block the truck's path by parking his car across the roadway, said state Public Safety Secretary Darren White. An advance team of officers cleared the way. The truck carried about 600 pounds of waste � plutonium-contaminated clothing, gloves, booties, filters, coveralls, plastic covers and metal cans. The waste was packed in boxes loaded in three specially designed stainless steel containers, each about 8 feet wide and 10 feet high. Most of the material was from the lab's manufacture of nuclear batteries used in NASA deep space probes, such as the Voyager missions. Eventually, such shipments will become ``highly routine,'' lab spokesman Kevin Roark said. ``WIPP shipments will go out every week and no one will even notice,'' he said. ``There was more fanfare for the first shipment because of its historical significance.'' Eventually, about 37,000 shipments will fill WIPP's underground storage rooms and become entombed by salt over the next 30 years. ====================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Is ONElist important to you? Has it changed your life? http://www.onelist.com Come visit our new web site and share with us your stories ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DOEWatch List --- Subscribe online: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/doewatch"We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesized in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous Ark. Anyway we think we have found the way to cause the disintegration of the atom." -Quote from Truman's diary July 25, 45 after Pottsdam and the "baby was born"""The Doctor of the future will give No Medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease."."-Attributed to Thomas Alva Edisonn"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act"t"-George Orwell &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
