[ RadSafe ] Fear-mongering on DU against LES

[Muckerheide, James]

Friends,

 

The treatment of low levels of radioactivity and radiation as significant
hazards by the nuclear industry and government agencies are here again
supported by the rad protection rabble-rousers.  

 

Regards, Jim Muckerheide

===================

 

PUBLIC CITIZEN PRESS RELEASE, Aug. 2, 2005

 

Citizens' Groups Expose Seriously Flawed LES Radioactive Waste Disposal Plan

 

Public Interest Groups Continue to Press Legal Challenge as Nuclear Agency
Hosts Public Meeting on Its Environmental and Safety Evaluations of Uranium
Enrichment Facility

 

As the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) hosts a public meeting this
evening in Eunice, New Mexico, on its environmental and safety evaluations of
a proposed uranium enrichment plant near there, the legal challenge being
pursued by citizens groups Public Citizen (PC) and the Nuclear Information
and Resource Service (NIRS) is bringing to light the flawed radioactive waste
disposal strategy of the company that is seeking a license to build and
operate the plant.

 

PC and NIRS are engaged in an intervention against the license application of
Louisiana Energy Services (LES), a European-led consortium, which they
contend lacks a plausible strategy for the disposition and disposal of the
very large quantities of depleted uranium (DU)-a long-lived radioactive and
hazardous waste-that would be produced by the plant.  The issue has become
the most contentious concern in the licensing case.

 

"There remain serious unresolved questions about the ultimate destination of
the extremely harmful radioactive waste that would be produced by the LES
plant," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass
energy program.  "Each option presented by LES and the NRC is flawed, and
there is a great likelihood that the agreement between LES and the State of
New Mexico to remove the plant's waste from the State will not be enforced."

 

Evaluations performed by Public Citizen and NIRS and their expert consultants
at the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research have shown that the
waste disposal options presented by LES are not reasonable strategies to
handle the massive amount of uranium waste that would be produced by the
plant:

 

    *

      WCS option.  LES has identified the Waste Control Specialists (WCS)
site in West Texas-less than two miles from the site of its proposed National
Enrichment Facility (NEF)-as a probable disposal destination for its DU
waste.

But an investigation performed by Public Citizen and NIRS experts reveals
serious flaws in WCS's application for a license to establish a long-term
low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) dump at its Andrew County, Texas site.
Gross inaccuracies and misrepresentations in the application demonstrate this
company's lack of fitness to accept waste from LES.  Indeed, the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the licensing authority in Texas,
severely criticized WCS's license application and site in a July 20 letter to
the company, warning WCS that its facility design "appears inadequate to
appropriately stabilize certain wastes for disposal, segregate different
classes of radioactive waste, [and] verify by testing the accurate
classification of waste received for disposal," among other problems, such as
an "inadequate" decommissioning plan, security plan, and emergency plan.

 

    *

      Envirocare option.  Envirocare of Utah, LLC, a LLRW dump licensed by
Utah to accept "Class A" waste for disposal, is cited in the NRC's final
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) as a disposal option for LES.  The NRC
notes that Envirocare's operating license authorizes it to accept DU in oxide
form in such quantities as are expected to be produced by LES.  However,
recent changes in Envirocare's operating license bring into question whether
the company may legally accept waste from LES.  In February 2005, Envirocare
withdrew its application to accept "Class B" and "Class C" LLRW-more
highly-radioactive forms-for disposal.  Though the NRC has termed depleted
uranium as low-level waste, it has not specified a subcategory, and Public
Citizen and NIRS believe that its proper classification would be "Greater
Than Class C" waste, which would preclude Envirocare as a disposal option. 

Moreover, it appears that an amendment  to Envirocare's operating license,
formally adopted on June 13, 2005, would effectively prohibit the company
from accepting depleted uranium waste in the great quantities that would be
generated by LES, eliminating it as a disposal option.

 

    *

      DOE option.  The final EIS cites the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE)
Nevada Test Site as a possible long-term disposal site for LES's depleted
uranium if ownership of the waste is transferred to the DOE.  However, the
DOE has an abysmal record of radioactive waste management, exemplified by the
massive stockpiles of DU waste sitting idle at sites in Kentucky, Ohio, and
Tennessee as well as the department's failure to properly manage the
country's high-level radioactive waste, which continues to accumulate at
nuclear power plants across the country.

 

    *

      Flawed deal with the State of New Mexico.  Having had most of its
contentions excluded from hearing in the LES licensing case, the State of New
Mexico has engaged in an effort to establish licensing conditions for LES
that would require it to ultimately remove its DU waste from the State.
However, the enforceability of the conditions that the parties agreed on is
unclear, and the NRC rejected the initial agreement on those grounds.  The
parties have since offered a new Settlement Agreement that no longer includes
as a licensing requirement the stipulation that the DOE not operate a DU
processing plant or dispose of DU waste produced by LES within New Mexico.
The DOE is required to accept the plant's DU waste by law, and it is cited in
the final EIS as a disposal option for LES.  However, the NRC has made it
clear that it does not have jurisdiction over DU waste once it is transferred
to the DOE and could not possibly enforce a condition that DOE remove such
waste from New Mexico.

 

    *

      Unrealistic cost estimates.  The cost estimates offered by LES for DU
processing and disposal are extremely low because they are based on these
flawed and implausible disposal options.  Proper disposal of LES's DU
waste-in a deep geologic repository-would raise LES's waste disposal
estimates exponentially.

 

"There is no established site in this country for the safe, long-term
disposal of depleted uranium, and LES's half-baked plans for disposal do not
hold water," said Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS.  "It would
not be prudent to move forward with this new facility in the absence of a
reasonable strategy for properly disposing of this waste."

 

"The net result of LES's flawed waste disposal plans is likely to be a legacy
of long-lived radioactive waste contamination in New Mexico," said Hauter. 

 

Public Citizen and NIRS will continue to challenge the license application
and waste disposal plans of LES in hearings set for this fall.

 

Contact: Joseph Malherek, PC (202) 454-5109; Michael Mariotte, NIRS (202)
328-0002