ORGANIZATIONS THAT USE RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS RESPOND TO ENACTMENT OF CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY BILL 2214

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

Terese Ghio, Chair of the California Radioactive Materials Management 

Forum, 

an association of corporations and institutions that use radioactive 

materials, commented today on the signing of Assembly Bill 2214 which 



prohibits development of a disposal facility for low-level 

radioactive waste 

at Ward Valley, California. 



"It is regrettable that California is without a means, and now not 

even a 

plan, for disposal of low-level radioactive waste produced by 

beneficial 

activities in research, medicine, and energy production," said Terese 

Ghio, 

Chair of Cal Rad Forum. Ms. Ghio is Senior Director of Governmental 

Affairs 

and Environmental Health and Safety at a San Diego based 

Biotechnology 

Company. She is also an active member of the BIOCOM/San Diego Public 

Policy 

and Environmental Committees.



Ward Valley -- the proposed site of a disposal facility for low-level 



radioactive waste produced by universities, utilities, industries 

including 

pharmaceutical and biotech, and medical centers -- was licensed by 

the 

California Department of Health Services in 1993. A joint federal-

state 

Environmental Impact Statement and Report was prepared by the 

Department and 

the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in 1990. The site is in a remote 

location 

in the Mojave Desert near Interstate 40 about 20 miles west of 

Needles, 

California. The nearest community is nine miles distant.



Pursuant to the federal Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act, 

California 

ratified the Southwestern Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal 

Interstate 

Compact in 1987. The U.S. Congress granted consent to the Compact in 

1988. As 

a result, California is the Compact's "Host State" with a statutory 

and 

contractual obligation to operate a disposal facility for 30 years to 

serve 

the needs of organizations that use radioactive materials in 

California, 

Arizona, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Under the terms of the 

Compact, 

Arizona was to serve as the second "Host State."



Only two facilities now dispose of radioactive waste from California 

and the 

other states of the Southwestern Compact. A facility in South 

Carolina is 

fully licensed and disposes of 98 percent of California's low-level 

radioactive waste (as measured by radioactivity content). After July 

1, 2008, 

use of the South Carolina facility will be restricted to the Atlantic 

Compact 

(South Carolina, New Jersey, and Connecticut). At that time, there 

will be no 

place to safely dispose of most of California's low-level radioactive 

waste. 

The Committee to Bridge the Gap, one of the sponsors of AB 2214, 

tried to 

persuade the State of South Carolina to set a much earlier date for 

phasing 

out waste from California and other states. 



Another facility, in Utah, has only a partial license. It disposes of 

most of 

the volume of California's waste but only 2 percent of the 

radioactivity. As 

of July 1, 2008, Utah will have monopoly control of disposal costs 

for the 

bulk of California’s waste volume. An initiative on Utah's November 

ballot 

would increase fees on disposal of out-of-state waste to support 

education 

and other public purposes in Utah. 



"Every federal and state agency with regulatory jurisdiction has 

approved the 

Ward Valley project as safe and environmentally acceptable," said Ms. 

Ghio. 

"In addition, California's Courts upheld the Ward Valley license 

against a 

challenge by some of the same organizations that sponsored AB 2214. A 

special 

panel appointed by the National Academy of Sciences studied the Ward 

Valley 

site. The Panel's report, issued in 1995, also found the proposed 

project to 

be safe and environmentally acceptable.



"Nineteen years of governmental planning and hundreds of millions of 

dollars 

have been committed to the badly needed Ward Valley disposal project. 

These 

costs will most likely be passed on to taxpayers because of a pending 

lawsuit 

filed by the company that invested its own time and money in site 

characterization and preparation of the license application, said Ms. 

Ghio. 

In addition, California will be liable for failure to meet its 

obligations 

under the Compact, and it is not reasonable to expect that another 

private 

company will invest in any future low-level radioactive waste 

disposal 

project in California.



"In 1998, during the last gubernatorial campaign, Gray Davis said, 'I 

believe 

in good science.' He cited the National Academy of Sciences' Report 

and 

promised that their determination that the project is suitable would 

'weigh 

heavily in any decision I would make as Governor on this issue.' Cal 

Rad 

Forum, which includes members from medicine, education, utilities, 

biotech 

and industrial sectors, would be interested to know how the State of 

California now plans to assure that low-level radioactive waste from 

California, and the other states of the Southwestern Compact region, 

will be 

safely and reliably disposed of in the future."

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

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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