EnviroCare

[Andrew Karam <karam.1@osu.edu>]

Reading the SLC Tribune articles about EnviroCare raises one question:  What
will be the effect on us (the HP community) if EnviroCare's license is
suspended  or revoked?  For example, in the Midwest Compact there is a fixed
volume cap of 2.25 million cubic feet.  When deriving this volume it was
assumed that remediation waste would go to EnviroCare.  There are single
sites in Ohio that, if remediated, could fill this volume in a year.  It is
ironic that the environmentalists may be in a position of choosing between
leaving rad contamination in the ground or expanding a LLRW site volume cap
(leaving out any and all arguments about the necessity for remediation).

Two or three years ago I raised this question with representatives of
several compacts and host states.  Nobody had a game plan if EnviroCare
could not accept waste.  EnviroCare representatives assured me that they
would be able to continue to accept remediation waste for the forseeable
future in terms of available disposal volume and political acceptability.  

I would suggest, in light of these articles, that now might be a good time
to discuss non-EnviroCare options for disposal of remediation waste.





Andrew Karam, CHP (karam.1@osu.edu)
Office of Radiation Safety
The Ohio State University
1314 Kinnear Road
Columbus, OH  43212

Phone: (614) 292-1284   Fax: (614) 292-6404	Alt fax:   292-7002