WARD VALLEY AND THE PAPER BY PROFESSOR HAYDEN OF NEBRASKA

[APasConslt <APasConslt@aol.com>]

FROM:	Alan Pasternak, Cal Rad Forum
 TO:		RADSAFERS 
 
 I have seen several references on RADSAFE to the paper by Professor Gregory
 Hayden of the University of Nebraska and the Central States Compact
 Commission. Here is Cal Rad's press advisory on Professor Hayden's thesis that
 there is no "need" for new disposal facilities for LLRW.
 
 ******************	
 
 December 4, 1997
 
 From:	Alan Pasternak, Technical Director, Cal Rad Forum*
 To:		Reporters and Editorial/Opinion Writers
 
 Press Advisory on Ward Valley
 
 
 LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL:
 NEBRASKA VIOLATES THE FIRST LAW OF WING-WALKING
 
 As reported in the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times for December
 3, 1997, a paper by  F. Gregory Hayden, Professor of Economics at the
 University of Nebraska and Nebraska's Governor's appointee to the Central
 States Compact Commission, claims that new disposal facilities for low-level
 radioactive waste (LLRW) are not needed and will not be economical. Professor
 Hayden asserts that because the volumes of LLRW produced by universities,
 hospitals, nuclear power plants, and industries have declined since Congress
 enacted the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act in 1980, development of a
 system of regional disposal facilities, as called for by the Act, is not
 necessary and will not be economical.
 
 Professor Hayden’s analysis is fundamentally flawed. Understanding neither the
 provisions or the purposes of the 1980 Act, he reaches conclusions that will
 please only politicians who want to stop development of new disposal
 facilities in their states -- such as Nebraska’s Governor Benjamin Nelson --
 and anti-nuclear activists who have vowed to obstruct the development of any
 new disposal facilities as long as waste is produced, i.e., as long as society
 uses radioactive materials.
 
 Where Professor Hayden Errs. The 1980 law has nothing to do with economics or
 expectations of increased waste volumes and everything to do with regional
 equity. In 1979, the governors of Washington, Nevada, and South Carolina
 threatened to close the
ties unless Congress
 developed a more equitable system of disposal. Congress did not pass the 1980
 law because the existing sites were filling up or because dramatic increases
 in the production of low-level wastes were expected.
 
 The Problem of 1997 is the Same as the Problem of 1980. A disposal system in
 which forty-seven states rely on only three for waste disposal is inherently
 politically unstable. The problem was -- and still is -- a political one.
 
 It’s Politics
 “The argument is not about disposal capacity and never has been. There was
 plenty of capacity back in 1980. The problem was the same as it is now,
 politics. The handful of states with facilities didn’t want to become the
 recipients of the nation’s waste stream. The politics are just as volatile
 today as they were in 1980.” So says Carl Lischeske of California’s Department
 of Health Services.
 
 California’s high tech industries and scientific and medical research
 institutions that use radioactivity simply cannot afford to be held hostage to
 the shifting political winds of one or two other states.
 
 Advantages of the 1980 Federal Act. In 1980, Congress called for a system of
 interstate compacts in which each regional disposal facility would dispose of
 wastes for the states of its compact region only. The system is flexible;
 compacts can combine to dispose of their wastes and improve economics. The
 Northwest and Rocky Mountain compacts did this a few years ago. “Host state”
 responsibilities rotate. For example, California is the first host state for
 the Southwestern Compact which includes Arizona and the Dakotas. After 30
 years, Arizona will be the next host state.
 
 Existing Disposal Capacity is Limited and Tenuous. Professor Hayden naively
 believes that the states with existing disposal facilities (Washington and
 South Carolina) will continue accepting the nations’ low-level waste as long
 as they have room! But Washington accepts LLRW from only eleven states: eight
 in the Northwest Compact and three in the Rocky Mountain Compact. For twelve
 months in 1
its disposal
 facility to the eight states of the Southeast compact. The restriction was
 dropped when a new governor was elected. (Nevada closed its site in 1993.)
 
 Temporary Storage of Low-Level Waste in California and the Southwestern
 Compact. Professor Hayden is also mistaken when he says that no California
 corporations or institutions are storing radioactive wastes at their own
 locations. Many medical facilities, universities, and industries won’t send
 their wastes to South Carolina because of past environmental problems at the
 disposal facility there. So, many organizations in California are storing
 their low-level wastes until the Ward Valley site opens.
 
 University Presidents Speak Out
 “As long as Ward Valley transfer remains delayed and the waste accumulates,
 LLRW must be stored where it is generated on our campuses. The capacity of our
 storage facilities is limited. Already this situation has led some researchers
 to curtail their use of radioisotopes, thereby diminishing the rate of
 progress in understanding and fighting some of the most serious diseases.”
	Excerpt from a letter to the California Congressional delegation endorsing
 legislation to transfer federal lands in Ward Valley to the State of
 California signed by the Presidents of Cal Tech, Stanford, the University of
 California, and the University of Southern California. May 16, 1996. Similar
 letters to their states' Congressional Delegations were sent by the Presidents
 of the University of Arizona and the University of South Dakota.
 
 Conclusion: Hold Course. A nationwide disposal system of only two or three
 disposal facilities is politically unstable. That’s what we had in 1980. If
 the nation tries to revert to that scheme, we will wind up with zero disposal
 facilities for commercial low-level waste. That’s why new disposal facilities
 are needed at Ward Valley, California and in other regions of the country.
 Nebraska’s Governor Nelson and Professor Hayden would violate the First Law of
 Wing-Walking: "Never let go of what you have hold of until you

 *The California Radioactive Materials Management Forum is an association of
 public and private institutions and corporations that use radioactive
 materials and generate low-level radioactive waste in the Southwestern Compact
 region (Arizona, California, North Dakota, and South Dakota). Members include
 universities, industries, electric utilities with nuclear power plants,
 medical centers and professional societies in medicine, engineering, and
 radiation protection. A list of Cal Rad's corporate and institutional members
 can be found on our web site at <http://www.calradforum.org>.
 
 For further information, please contact:
 
 Betsy Hite		(916) 687-8701
 Nicki Hobson		(760) 598-8289
 Laurie Trainor		(310) 822-8832
 Carol Worth		(703) 742-0017
 Alan Pasternak	(510) 283-5210