WASHINGTON -- In a letter to President Bush, the U.S. Conference of Mayors is expressing concerns about the transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste from reactors across the country to Yucca Mountain in Nevada or any other repository.

The letter, which emerged from the Conference's Leadership Meeting on February 22, was initiated by Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin and signed by 18 mayors, including Conference President and New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial. The mayors call on President Bush to include a transportation analysis and an environmental impact study in the Department of Energy (news - web sites)'s final report.

In the letter, mayors tell President Bush, "We are concerned the DOE has not yet fully researched the methods for the transportation of nuclear waste. Regardless of the final repository location, we have serious concerns about the transportation of spent nuclear fuel from reactors all over the country to Yucca Mountain or any other repository. These shipments will travel through America's cities past our schools, homes and places of business."

In 1996, The U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted a policy on the transportation of radioactive waste that calls for the federal government to fund the training and equipment that will be needed by local emergency response personnel along transportation routes, to upgrade medical facilities which would treat victims of transportation accidents, and to upgrade highway and railroad or highway bypasses to ensure safe transportation corridors. It also calls on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to certify shipping transportation containers after a public process that includes both physical testing and computer modeling to ensure that the containers can withstand severe accidents.

The Conference has not taken a position on selection of the Yucca Mountain site. A copy of the letter can be accessed at www.usmayors.org.