Re: Fwd: Re: Hanford Site Cleanup Standards

[The Wilsons <pnwnatives@netscape.net>]

This article appeared in our local paper last Saturday.  It  certainly 

exemplifies the situation that Ruth has made.   This does not however 

sound like legislation that  has imposed ridiculously low standards.



Washington among states fighting move to reclassify radioactive waste



AP



August 30, 2003



RICHLAND (AP) -- Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire has 

joined counterparts in three states to oppose Department of Energy 

efforts to reclassify some highly radioactive waste.



Gregoire and attorneys general from three other states sent a letter 

Thursday to Congress, the Tri-City Herald reported Friday.



In the letter, the attorney generals oppose the Energy Department's 

request for broad powers to reclassify some of the 88 million gallons of 

untreated high-level radioactive waste stored in tanks at Hanford and 

other nuclear facilities.



The Energy Department has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for 

permission to reclassify sludge that remains after most of the 

radioactive and toxic liquids have been drained from the underground 

tanks, allowing them to be filled and capped with cement and abandoned 

in place.



In an Aug. 1 letter to U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, Energy 

Secretary Spencer Abraham asked for legislation giving him authority to 

reclassify some of the radioactive tank waste as low-activity, a label 

that requires less stringent handling.



Such a change would require Congress to add language to the Nuclear 

Waste Policy Act of 1982, the newspaper reported.



Abraham is seeking the change because a federal judge ruled on July 3 

that the Energy Department does not have authority to reclassify the 

tank wastes, the newspaper reported.



On Aug. 12, Tom Fitzsimmons, director of Washington's Department of 

Ecology, and his counterparts in Oregon, Idaho and South Carolina, wrote 

Abraham, asking him to drop the idea and to work with the states on a 

compromise.



Thursday's letter from the attorneys general from the same four states 

echoes the Aug. 12 letter's concerns, addressing them directly to the 

majority and minority leaders in the U.S. House and Senate.



"DOE's proposal is simply another attempt to get around what Congress 

intended (in 1982) for the safe disposal of high-level radioactive waste 

at Hanford and at other nuclear facilities around the country," Gregoire 

said in a statement. "Current laws will ensure adequate cleanup at 

Hanford, and we will oppose any effort to weaken those laws."







RuthWeiner@AOL.COM wrote:



>

> Subject:

> Re:  Hanford Site Cleanup Standards

> From:

> RuthWeiner@aol.com

> Date:

> Wed, 03 Sep 2003 10:50:04 -0400

> To:

> liptonw@dteenergy.com (William V Lipton)

>

>

>I am posting this on RADSAFE, because much  of it refers to your RADSAFE posting.  

>

>

>  

>



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