Pena to Defer Decision on HFBR

[Andy Hull <hull@mail.sep.bnl.gov>]

According to today's Newsday (Long Island's daily paper), Energy Secretary
Pena yesterday announced that he will delay his decision on the future of
Brookhaven National Laboratory's High Flux Beam Reactor until December
1998, after the completion of an Environmental Impact Statement. 

This information was released last night at the first of several
neighborhood review meetings to obtain comment on the options being
considered in the EIS:
1. Permanently shutting down the reactor.
2. Resuming operations at the reactor.
3. Resuming operations and upgrading the reactor.
4. Taking no action and maintaining the reactor in a shutdown and defueled
  condition.

The Newsday account indicated that DOE favored either Option 1 or Option 2.
However in a letter from Secretary Pena, which was distributed at the
meeting, he disavowed this and stated that he did not intend to make a
decision until he and his staff have information from the EIS in late  1998.  

In yesterday's Newsday, it was reported that in a letter to Martha Krebs,
Director of Energy Research, a 19 member Basic Energy Sciences Advisory
Committee said that it is critical  that the HFBR be restarted to preserve
the nation's competitive edge in technology research.  They also concluded
that it would not be cost-effective unless over time its power was
increased from 30 to 60Mw.

A few days earlier, Long Island Congressman Michael Forbes, in whose
district BNL is located, and who had previously called for the HFBR's
permanent shutdown, charged that the use of taxpayer's money to purchase
advertisements of the meeting was illegal.

Andy Hull
S&EP-BNL
Upton, N.Y. 11973
Ph.  516-344-4210
Fax  516-344=3105