Re: RAMP Rumors

["David Scherer" <DAVID@speedy.ehs.uiuc.edu>]

Superfund liability is joint and several.  Anybody who ever owned or 
had possession of the materials is potentially liable for _all_ 
remediation costs associated with the waste.  (That is a big part of 
the current debate over Superfund reauthorization.)  Perhaps the waste 
originator could sue the waste broker for failure to fulfill his 
contract, but if the broker is bankrupt the generator can't collect 
damages and the generator's pockets are deeper.  The generator is 
still on the hook.  Hence the "cradle-to-grave nightmare."
Dave Scherer
scherer@uiuc.edu


> Correct me if I'm wrong; If a generator surrenders radioactive 
waste ready for 
> burial, the vendor is responsible to complete the contract by transporting it to
> the burial site.  If the vendor processes the your waste by combining with other
> like waste or volume reduction, then the liability belongs to the vendor.  
> Although you are the generator, you may be liable to that portion of the waste 
> in the event of an accident or incident, the vendor has treated or changed the 
> intergity of the waste that was surrender in its original form for burial...mike
> coogen sends


>  As I heard (we don't use RAMP, but a company my husband 
>  used to work for did), the problem wasn't necessary poor 
>  QA on the generator's part, but that RAMP was actually 
>  COMBINING drums of materials from different institutions 
>  without noting it.  So, some of you could have some 
>  drums in Hanford that have YOUR name on them, but 
>  SOMEONE ELSE's waste in them.  Talk about a cradle- 
>  to-grave nightmare!