Opposition to WCS front and center at a public forum. “Everyone of the canisters carries as much plutonium as the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki and terrorist can easily figure out how to detonate that stuff,” says activist Tom Smith.  

Safety hazards like this have Andrews resident Elizabeth Padilla worried as she even has her kids in on the fight. “We do not want to risk the life of our children. We do not want to risk future generations. We want to keep Andrews free of radioactive waste.” 

WCS hopes to be an ally to the area and not a burden. The county currently gets 5% of the revenue from a facility already in the area, currently 4 million in revenue for the first for first 4 years. WCS saying this will have a significant economic impact and job growth. “We’ve been in the area a long time. We have a really good safety record so there’s a lot of confidence we build over the last 20 years,” says Rod Baltzer with WCS.