Speeding Nuclear Cleanup Is Seen as a Way to Reduce Work

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Index:



Speeding Nuclear Cleanup Is Seen as a Way to Reduce Work

Russia Vows to Recover Nuclear Fuel

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



Speeding Nuclear Cleanup Is Seen as a Way to Reduce Work



WASHINGTON, July 11 (NYTimes)— The Bush administration plan to clean 

up highly radioactive military wastes more quickly may actually be an 

effort to reduce the government's work sharply, two senators and the 

attorney general of Washington State said today at a Senate hearing.



A top Energy Department official did not contradict them.

 

Under the plan, the administration offered an extra $800 million in 

cleanup money for the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1 to states 

that could reach agreement by Aug. 1 on how to spend it. Some 

officials in Washington State fear that the plan would violate a 

longstanding agreement to clean up the Hanford nuclear reservation in 

Richland.



Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, said today that the 

money could be seen as an incentive to states to lower their 

environmental standards in exchange for a larger share of the cleanup 

budget. 



The Energy Department, Ms. Cantwell said at a hearing of the Senate 

Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was telling the states, in 

effect, "if they'll agree to a change, they'll get X number of 

dollars for cleanup." 



Senator Jeff Bingaman, the New Mexico Democrat who is chairman of the 

committee, also said the $800 million could be seen as an incentive 

to relax standards. 



Ms. Cantwell was addressing Jessie H. Roberson, assistant secretary 

for environmental management in the Energy Department, who said the 

department would live up to an 1989 agreement to clean up the Hanford 

site. 



The department has more than 53 million gallons of military 

radioactive sludge and salts in aging tanks at Hanford, where some 

waste has leaked into the Columbia River.



In 1989, the department reached an accord with the Environmental 

Protection Agency and Washington to empty the tanks of at least 99 

percent of their contents and embed the wastes in glass, a process 

called vitrification. 



Those glass logs, in steel containers, are supposed to be buried, 

possibly at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, where nuclear wastes from 

civilian reactors are also supposed to go. 



But in 1999, the department published a rule to let it redefine some 

wastes so they would not have to be vitrified. This year, it proposed 

to build just one vitrification plant instead of two and finish the 

work more quickly.



The department has decided against completely emptying similar tanks 

at its Savannah River Site, near Aiken, S.C., and to leave some waste 

in place, mixed with concrete.



That has caused "terrible consternation," Attorney General Christine 

O. Gregoire of Washington told the energy panel today. 



Ms. Gregoire, who in 1989 was head of her state's Ecology Department 

and helped negotiate the pact that year, said she would refuse to 

sign further agreements with the Energy Department until the issue 

was clarified. 



Asked repeatedly whether the department planned to redefine the 

wastes at Hanford, Ms. Roberson refused to promise that it would not 

do so.



"It's not our intent to avoid compliance with any of our regulatory 

agreements," she said.



The policy of allowing the redefinition of the wastes is the subject 

of a suit against the Energy Department by the Yakima Indian Nation 

and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Oral argument is scheduled 

for July 22 in Federal District Court in Boise, Idaho.



Ms. Gregoire said Washington would try to enter the suit on Monday as 

a friend of the court. 



Even the accelerated cleanup would be lengthy, lasting 35 years 

instead of 70. The wastes are left from the production of plutonium, 

beginning in World War II and ending in the 1990's. 

-----------------



Russia Vows to Recover Nuclear Fuel



MOSCOW JUL 12 (AP) -- Trying to soothe U.S. fears of Iran developing 

nuclear weapons, the atomic energy minister said Friday that Moscow 

would take back spent nuclear fuel from a Russian-built nuclear power 

station in Iran.



Russia is helping Iran build a 1,000-megawatt pressurized water 

reactor at Bushehr in a deal worth $800 million. U.S. officials fear 

spent fuel from the project could provide Iran with weapons-grade 

radioactive material and boost its efforts to develop nuclear 

weapons.



Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said Russia worked out a 

protocol with Iran in November 1998 specifying that Russia 

would take back the spent nuclear fuel from Bushehr. But because 

Russia at the time didn't have a law allowing the import of such 

material, it could not be put into force, he said.



Now that the Russian parliament passed a law last year allowing the 

import of spent nuclear fuel, Russia and Iran will formally sign 

the protocol in September or October of this year -- paving the way 

for the spent fuel to be returned to Russia, Rumyantsev said.



``We'll provide them with fresh fuel and take back the spent'' 

material, Rumyantsev said, adding that Russia would not provide any 

fuel at all ``until the signed regulations are in place.''



The Bushehr project remains a major irritant in U.S.-Russian 

relations, despite the overall spirit of cooperation between Moscow 

and 

Washington in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Russia has 

brushed off U.S. complaints, saying the Iranian reactor can 

only be used for civilian purposes and will remain under the 

supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.



The Bushehr reactor is due to be completed by December 2003 and ready 

for operation by 2005, Russian officials have said. 

Rumyantsev said work at the plant is moving ahead.



``Construction of the first power unit is nearing completion,'' he 

said. ``Heavy equipment is being supplied, along with the reactor's 

body, pipes and pumping equipment. In August, a turbine will be 

delivered.''



Rumyantsev said that along with Iran, Russia is actively cooperating 

with China in building nuclear power plants. Russia is also preparing 

to import spent nuclear fuel from other countries in November, in 

line with the new law.



The law allows Russia to accept nuclear waste from abroad for storage 

and reprocessing, a measure that proponents say will bring in 

billions of dollars in revenue -- money that could be used to clean 

up decades of past radioactive contamination in Russia. Environmental 

groups and other critics say that Russia does not have enough 

facilities to store the waste safely and that the law could turn 

Russia into the world's nuclear dumping ground.

-------------------------------------------------

Sandy Perle

Director, Technical

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100  Extension 2306

Fax:(714) 668-3149



E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net

E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com



Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com



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