SC Elections and Barnwell - newspaper article

[Arminc01@aol.com]

Radsafers,
For your information,  enclosed is the latest news on the future of disposal
at Barnwell.

Charles Smith
Applied Radwaste Management, Inc. http://armnet.com/armonline 
November 16-20 Charleston SC RAM Transport/Disposal Training 

_____________________________________________________________________
Hodges keeping 'all options' open on Barnwell site

By MICHAEL SPONHOUR, Staff Writer, The State newspaper

Though he has pounded Gov. David Beasley for agreeing to open the Barnwell
low-level nuclear landfill to the nation's waste, Democratic gubernatorial
candidate Jim Hodges won't necessarily seek to padlock the facility right
away if elected.

Instead, Hodges said, South Carolina should try to get out of the
radioactive-waste disposal business by trying to restart a regional dumping
network that South Carolina left in 1995 at Beasley's instigation.

If that didn't work, then the state should consider restricting which
states could use Barnwell, he said. "We're holding some cards on that,"
Hodges said.

Barnwell is one of just three sites that can take low-level nuclear waste,
and the only one east of the Mississippi. Efforts by other regions to build
their own nuclear landfills have stalled in the face of regulatory or
citizen opposition.

But the head of that regional partnership said a lack of cash and a
long-running political logjam make it unlikely that a North Carolina
landfill will be an option soon.

"That doesn't appear to be a solution, certainly not in the short term and
maybe not be in the long term," said Richard Hodes, chairman of the
Southeast Compact Commission, which last year halted work on a North
Carolina landfill.

Even if work resumed, the site couldn't open until 2002 at the earliest, he
said.

In that case, South Carolina should ban waste from outside the Southeast or
even close Barnwell to all companies except those in South Carolina, Hodges
said. The state could also form a new partnership with other states as
permitted by federal law, he said.

"All options are on the table that would allow us to get the process moving
again," Hodges said.



'A dismal failure.' Beasley adamantly defends his controversial decision to
open Barnwell to the nation's waste, even though it produces just a
fraction of the cash promised in 1995. Beasley, a Republican, points to the
fact that both Barnwell and the regional compact were created during
Democratic administrations.

"The Democrat Party gave us a compact that did not work. It was a dismal
failure," Beasley said. "The Democrat Party created the Barnwell facility
and I've had to address and deal with the mess I got."

South Carolina joined seven other states in 1982 to create a regional
radioactive-waste compact. The states agreed to take 20-year turns as host
of a nuclear landfill. For South Carolina -- home to the Barnwell landfill
since 1971 -- it seemed like a chance to get out of a business that is very
unpopular except in and around Barnwell County. The facility is a major
employer in the area.

Barnwell accepts contaminated work clothes, tools and even major reactor
parts from utilities and other companies that operate equipment with
radioactive elements.

North Carolina, the state picked to take over the job starting in 1992, has
never come close to getting a dump up and running.

Democrats who controlled the South Carolina Legislature in the early 1990s
wanted to close Barnwell to put pressure on North Carolina. Instead, they
granted an extension to help generate funds for the state budget as
suggested by then-Gov. Carroll Campbell. They did approve closing the
landfill to 42 states that don't belong to the Southeast Compact. The ban
went into effect June 30, 1994.

Barnwell was supposed to close for good at the end of 1995. But after just
a few months in office, Beasley called for a different course. South
Carolina should withdraw from the regional partnership, ban slow-footed
North Carolina from using Barnwell and open the dump to all states.

The payoff, he said, would be a huge cash windfall of nearly $140 million
per year for college scholarships and school construction. After an intense
battle -- in which critics noted that Beasley adviser Warren Tompkins was
also a lobbyist for Barnwell operator Chem-Nuclear Systems Inc. --lawmakers
agreed.

But the Barnwell bounty has never come close to $140 million. Hoping to
generate big money for the state, lawmakers levied a hefty tax on dumpers
based on how much space their materials took up in the landfill.

Waste generators responded by more carefully picking through their trash to
weed out nonradioactive debris and mashing the rest into smaller cubes that
cost less to dispose of. This year, Barnwell will generate only one-third
of the tax payments predicted in 1995.

Hodges calls the shortfall "Beasley's Barnwell disaster" and charges it has
left the schools scraping for cash. The college scholarships paid for by
Barnwell should be funded instead by some of the proceeds from a proposed
state lottery, Hodges said.

Beasley says critics should praise him for the slow business at Barnwell.
The stiff tax has slowed business, meaning South Carolina is getting less
nuclear waste, Beasley said.

"Why aren't the Democrats out there saying, 'Thank you, David Beasley, for
reducing the volume?' " Beasley said.

Barnwell is filling up more slowly, but each cubic foot actually contains
more radioactivity than previously expected. The dump will take in 60
percent more radioactivity than predicted in 1995.

Landfill operator Chem-Nuclear has also been searching for a way to improve
business at the site. One plan calls for dumpers -- mainly utilities -- to
pay now for the right to dispose of waste later. That could generate a $1
billion trust fund for education. But if lawmakers ever decided to close
Barnwell, the trust fund would disappear.

Such a plan might require legislative action. Right now, Chem-Nuclear is
discussing the idea with its customers. Hodges said he flatly rejects the
idea. Beasley has said he is not interested in the idea.



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