Nuclear Waste:  U.S. to Delay Releasing Nuclear Waste Shipment Routes

The U.S. Energy Department has decided to withhold until 2006 information on how nuclear waste will be transported to a repository slated to be built at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, the Las Vegas Sun reported yesterday (see GSN, July 21).

Energy is set to release a strategic plan in September on how spent nuclear fuel shipments to Yucca Mountain will be organized, acting Transportation Director Joe Williams said.  Decisions on waste shipments routes and methods, however, will be delayed, he said.

Energy is set to begin construction of the Yucca Mountain repository in 2007, with the first waste shipments to arrive in 2010 (Mary Manning, Las Vegas Sun, July 28).

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Food Safety:  U.S. Announces New Research Funding

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced today $5 million in research funding to develop new technologies to improve the safety and security of the U.S. food supply against a terrorist attack (see GSN, July 16).

The funding will be distributed to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for food security research purposes, according to a Health and Human Services press release.  For example, the funding will go toward research to develop new technologies to assess food contamination with biological, chemical and radiological agents.

“We will continue to maximize our efforts to give Americans the most protection possible from deliberate or accidental food risks,” FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan said.  “That includes not only using the best ideas that science has to offer, but seeking out still better ideas and methods,” he said.

In addition, Health and Human Services released a report today describing the department’s progress in improving food security.  For example, the FDA has quintupled the number of inspections conducted on food imports since fiscal 2001 — from 12,000 to 62,000 so far this year.  The FDA has also more than doubled the number of ports of entry where agency inspectors are stationed — from 40 to 90.

“Americans need to feel secure that the food they eat is safe and healthy,” Thompson said.  “We are investing unprecedented time, energy and resources to make sure the food that goes from our nation’s ports and food facilities to our families’ dinner tables is safe.  While we have made significant improvements over the last two years, we are building on our success by working harder to enhance security, including many more food inspections at our borders,” he said (U.S. Health and Human Services release, July 23).

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