GVSU terrorism expert speaks before U.S. Senate

Terrorism expert James David Ballard, assistant professor of Criminal Justice at Grand Valley, will testify at a U.S. Senate hearing on the threat of terrorism against nuclear waste shipments to Yucca Mountain.

Ballard will speak on May 22 before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. and is scheduled to be broadcast live on CSPAN and CSPAN II.

Last month Ballard testified before U.S. House highway and railroad subcommittees on the same topic. He calls himself neither an apologist for the energy industry nor an alarmist for environmentalists.

'I fall in between,' he said. 'Ultimately, I'm a pragmatist. If we're going to move nuclear waste, we have to move it safely. But our current planning is inadequate for that.'

Routes for nuclear waste shipments to Yucca Mountain in Nevada could directly affect an estimated 126 million people in 43 states, said Ballard. Michigan's major sites include the Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman, Fermi Nuclear Plant in Newport, and Palisades Nuclear Plant in Covert.