Railroaders place to shoot the shit.

It will be held Sept. 8-10 at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md.

The DOE has shipped large amounts and a variety of radioactive material by rail for years, and the number of rail shipments is expected to increase in coming years due to a 38-year DOE project to transport spent nuclear fuel and high level radioactive waste from DOE sites to storage and disposal facilities.

With the increase in rail shipments comes the increased risk for rail incidents involving radioactive material.

The Rail Workers Hazardous Materials Training Program provides this training through funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS); it is also sponsored in part by funding from the North American Railway Foundation (NARF).

Funding for this course will cover travel costs, overnight room accommodations and three meals a day on the George Meany Campus of the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Md.

No stipends are offered for this training.

The 16-hour training course will be a DOE-sponsored Modular Emergency Response Radiological Transportation Training (MERRTT) Train the Trainer course.

The program will begin on Mon., Sept. 8, at 7:00 p.m., and end by 2 p.m. on Wed., Sept. 10.

This is a valuable opportunity for union advocates at all levels to acquire the knowledge of the risks and concerns of these shipments. Participants will receive training materials provided in a CD format which will allow them to share this information at union meetings and gatherings of union members.

Space for this course is limited. Completed registration forms should be faxed, mailed or e-mailed no later than Aug. 8, 2008. Interested rail workers may also register online: http://www.hazmatgmc.org.

For more information contact the Rail Workers Hazardous Materials Training Program, 10000 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20903; (301) 439-2440; (301) 628-0165 fax; hjajuga@nlc.edu.

A downloadable registration form also is available by clicking here.