Drill focuses on nuclear transport

Local officials got a chance to see how a railway incident involving spent nuclear fuel would be handled last week.

Thursday, officials gathered in Granger to witness a derailment drill involving a sealed nuclear transport container. Between two and four times a year, spent nuclear fuel from the U.S. Navy is transported from Newport News, Va., to the Idaho National Laboratory for study into making more efficient nuclear fuels for military application. The containers, officially named the "M-290 Naval Spent Fuel Shipping Container" are large and constructed from 10-inch thick stainless steel. T...