It really was a joke. There was a touch of valid information, but it was always couched with the fear-mongering, and the DOE wasn’t given an opportunity to respond to several outlandish proposals.
For instance, the casks that will be used to transport the spent fuel are currently under design and, of course, will be designed to meet the requirements set forth. The panic people want to see them now and demand proof that they will meet the requirements. Um, duh?
Some of the graphics were absurd, too, including the steam engine leading the train and the semaphore trackside.
The most outlandish part I saw was their final supposition: A unit train of propane will be coming through Las Vegas the same moment a nuclear train does. The propane train’s engineer will be running behind schedule and will blow through at 50 mph or more, completely ignoring the speed limit on the line. He’ll also take his train through this narrow area underneath a highway bridge despite federal regulations that two haz-mat trains not pass here. The propane train will, of course, derail and the nuclear train will slam into it. As the propane tankcars explode, the highway overpass will fall on a nuclear cask (whose design is yet to be finalized), crushing it, and releasing nuclear waste.
The engineer will speed with a propane unit train because he’s running late??? These people obviously know nothing about railroading!
The guy from the department of energy mentioned how the nation has been moving spent nuclear fuel for 30 years without a single release, but no one mentioned HOW it has been moving. They showed UP and SP trains hauling waste — and even showed an engine with a modified FEC logo apparently running through the Nevada desert — but didn’t expand at all on current operations.
The whole thing was just silly, I thought. Right now I’m working on a feature for our November issue about the engineering involved with building the railroad through the desert to the Yucca Mo
Mega disasters used to be a good show…untill the flood episode…but i knew this was going to be a pile of bull…I mean who would use STEAM IN THIS ERA to transport ANYTHING espically nuclear waste.
The History Channel has many good shows, the Mega disasters series is interesting but all leads up to the most drmatic what if scenario at the end of the show. I haven’t seen this one but will keep an eye out.
I love history, really, even minored in it with my first (but useless) BA degree. Unfortunately, the History channel has the same effect on me most of the time. Even when they are tackling a factual rather than speculative subject, they take ten minutes worth of information and stretch it out into an hour show, making it the ideal vehicle for snoozing through.
I want actual history, I find a book by a reputable author and get my insight from that. I want to take a nap, I turn on the History Channel.
Only shows worth watching on History channel are Battle 360 and Cities of the Underworld all the rest is pure garbage, same goes for Discovery only good show on that channel is Myth Busters
Judging the quality of a History Channel show is easy: if the narrator has a British accent it is probably a BBC production bought by the HC. It has a much better chance of being good.
I once saw a HC program on the American Revolution. The narrator was telling of the battles for NY State that culminated in Saratoga. He mentioned the British invasion of central NY thru the Mohawk River valley. He said it departed Montreal up the “St. Lawrence Seaway”. Of course they meant the St. Lawrence River but that shows lousy proof-reading or fact-checking or something. I have never since completely trusted anything I saw on HC.