Public Meetings to be Held On Disposal of Trojan Nuclear Reactor Vessel

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Friday September 11, 2:07 pm Eastern Time

Company Press Release

Public Meetings to be Held On Disposal of Trojan
Nuclear Reactor Vessel

OLYMPIA, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 11, 1998--The 
Washington Department of Health will hold public meetings in 
Kennewick, Washington; Hood River, Oregon; and
Portland, Oregon later this month to discuss its findings on a 
proposal to dispose of the Trojan nuclear power plant reactor
vessel at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation's low-level waste 
disposal site. 

If the federal government decides later this year that the vessel can 
be shipped intact, it would be the largest single shipment of
radioactive waste ever received at the site. Materials initially 
containing about three million curies of radiation have been buried
there; the Trojan reactor would add about two million curies. 

Portland General Electric Company wants to ship the 1,020 ton, 42-
foot reactor vessel in one piece up the Columbia River by
barge from the plant site near Rainier, Oregon to the disposal site 
near Richland, Washington. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Department of Transportation are 
reviewing the company's transportation plan and have
authority over whether the shipment can be made. The Washington 
Department of Health's review and public meetings will
deal only with the proposed burial of the reactor vessel at the 
disposal site. The department received the bulk of the formal
proposal from Portland General Electric in June 1998, and received 
additional information from the company on September 1.
The company would like to make the shipment during the third 
quarter of 1999. 

``Our responsibility is to make sure that wastes deposited at the 
site are safe for the environment, the public, and workers at
the site,'' said Eric Slagle, the Department of Health's Assistant 
Secretary for Environmental Health. 

``Our review involves compliance with state regulations on low-level 
waste, including an evaluation of the proposed shipment
to ensure that it meets the NRC's prescribed guidelines for waste 
classification,'' Slagle added. ``The purpose of the meetings is
to explain the findings of our review and give people an opportunity 
to ask questions and comment on them. We'll also take
written comments and will consider all public input on the proposal 
and our findings before making a final decision.'' 

The company's proposal is more than 1,000 pages long. Copies of 
it are available for public review at the following locations: 

 Olympia:         Department of Health, 7171 Cleanwater Lane, Bldg. 
5
 Seattle:         Seattle Public Library, 1000 4th Avenue
                  (4th & Madison)
 Spokane:         Spokane Public Library, 906 W. Main Avenue
 Vancouver:       Fort Vancouver Regional Library, 1007 East Mill
                  Plain Blvd.
 Kennewick:       Mid-Columbia Library, 405 S. Dayton Street
 West Richland:   Mid-Columbia Library, 3803 W. Van Dusen

Copies of the Department of Health's report on its findings will be 
available at the three public meetings or from Gary
Robertson of the department's radioactive waste management 
office, 360/236-3241. 

            The public meeting schedule is as follows:

September 22        Kennewick, Washington     1315 W 4th Avenue

September 23        Hood River, Oregon        Hood River Inn,
                                              (Exit 64 on I-84)

September 24        Portland, Oregon.         State Office Building,
                                              800 NE Oregon St.,
                                              Rooms 120B & C

All three meetings will be held from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. 

Note to editors: A fact sheet on Washington's role in 
decommissioning the Trojan nuclear power plan is available on the 
web at http://www.doh.wa.gov/topics/trojan.htm 

http://epsilon.doh.wa.gov/ 

------------------
Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
ICN Plaza
3300 Hyland Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Office: (800) 548-5100 x2306 
Fax:    (714) 668-3149
  
sandyfl@earthlink.net
sperle@icnpharm.com

ICN Dosimetry Website:
http://www.dosimetry.com

Personal Website:
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -

The opinions expressed are solely, absolutely, positively, definitely those of the author, and NOT my employer
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html