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Nuclear waste leaking out of transportation casks worries 21-year-old Victoria College student Jacob Heiling.

What if the truck wrecks, he asked. He understands that the likelihood of leakage is low, but any leak at all poses a serious risk.

“I understand that things don’t usually go wrong with nuclear energy,” Heiling said. “But if they do go wrong, there would be serious problems that wouldn’t go away for thousands of years.”

Transportation casks are tested for the worst of circumstances, including wrecks, fires and explosions, according to the Department of Energy Web site. During the past 40 years, 3,000 shipments of nuclear fuel have been transported without injury or environmental damage

Nuclear waste shipping would begin after 2017, spokeswoman Angela Hill said. But that’s if the U.S. Department of Energy receives a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a repository at Yucca Mountain.

If all goes according to plan, spent fuel would be shipped from 121 temporary storage sites in 39 states, Hill said. While most shipments would be made on rail, some shipments will include using trucks and barges.

The latest estimates of projected shipments include 9,500 rail casks and 2,700 truck casks, Hill wrote in an e-mail. The shipment of rail casks would require 2,800 trains.

All shipments would be tracked by satellite on a 24-hour basis, she added.