DOE announces dispoal strategy

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@ix.netcom.com>]

WASHINGT0N, -- The U.S. Energy Department said Monday it 
has a dual-track method for reducing and storing a reported 50 tons of
highly radioactive materials from nuclear weapons that are being
disassembled. 
 The Energy Department announced that some of the weapons-grade 
plutonium and other radioactive materials will be stored in ceramic-
and glass-encased pits at three or four sites around the country, with
the remainder being burned off along with nuclear fuel at commercial
electric-generating plants. 
 The Energy Department said among sites under consideration to store 
the nuclear waste at various stages in the process are Hanford in
Washington, Savannah River in South Carolina, Idaho National
Engineering Laboratory, Pantex Plant in Texas, Los Alamos in New
Mexico, and Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. 
 The Washington Post put a $2 billion price tag on the two-tiered 
method for storing the nuclear waste announced by the Energy
Department. The newspaper said about 1,400 nuclear weapons are being
disassembled each year from a Cold War peak of 12,000 warheads. 
 The United States has a target of maintaining 3,500 warheads by the 
year 2003. 

Sandy Perle
Director, Technical Operations
ICN Dosimetry Division
Office: (800) 548-5100 Ext. 2306 
Fax: (714) 668-3149

E-Mail: sandyfl@ix.netcom.com    

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