An environmental nonprofit group has obtained pictures of the Department of Energy's specially designed trucks that are used to transport nuclear material around the country.
“The trucks carrying nuclear weapons and dangerous materials such as plutonium pass through cities and neighborhoods all the time and the public should be aware of what they look like,” says Tom Clements of the Friends of the Earth group based in Columbia, South Carolina, which obtained the photos through a Freedom of Information Act request. “Release of these photos will help inform the public about secretive shipments of dangerous nuclear material that are taking place in plain view.”
And they look, well, a lot like trucks.
According to a Department of Energy fact sheet on the "Safeguards Transporter," the vehicles are "specially designed part of an 18-wheel rig that incorporates various deterrents to prevent unauthorized removal of cargo. Each shipment is accompanied by armed federal agents.
There have beenlongstanding concerns bout the safety of transporting nuclear material over the nation's highways. Earlier this week a semitrailer carrying missile parts (but no nuclear material) operated by the U.S. Air Forceoverturned in North Dakota.
