RE: Texas board votes down border nuclear dump - details

["Patrick J. McDermott" <mcdermot@REHS.rutgers.edu>]

On 12-8 Glen Vickers wrote...
> The last thing this country needs is for another waste site to steal volume from
> Barnwell.  It is commendable that the fine folks in Texas would want to create
> their own waste/cash repository for their region, but right now the continued
> operation of Barnwell should be the primary national interest.  We must
> recognize that Envirocare in Utah is already diverting much of Barnwell's
> waste/cash.  There is an obvious lack of national leadership in the area of
> radioactive waste.  The fine folks from South Carolina should be commended for
> taking action and providing a viable waste option for the entire country.  The
> continued operation of Barnwell is a national interest.
> 

While I agree that Barnwell should be commended for there long 
service to the country's LLRW needs... our community needs to 
realize that things change and free market competition is one of 
the cornerstones of our economy. Barnwell is an old site and will 
not be open to everyone for an indefinite period of time (as we have 
seen in the past).  Waste minimization initiatives, volume reduction 
techniques and escalating costs for access to Barnwell are already 
changing how many institutions choose to handle their LLRW 
disposal issues... usually because they can save a lot of money.  I 
am not familiar enough with the Envirocare facility to comment 
whether or not it is "good" or "bad". Same goes for my knowledge 
of the proposed Texas site.  However, new LLRW disposal sites 
will eventually be needed.  Doing this with a combination of good 
engineering, public relations and community education will 
hopefully (I know I'm a little idealistic here) make siting LLRW 
disposal sites less of an issue.  (High Level sites such as the one 
proposed at Yucca Mtn., will never be "less of an issue", nor 
should they be.)

Just something to chew on,
My opinion only.
Patrick


Patrick J. McDermott
Rutgers Envir. Health & Safety
Rutgers, The State University
24 Street 1603
Bldg 4127 Livingston Campus
Piscataway, NJ 08854-8036
(p) 732-445-2550 (f) 732-445-3109
e-mail: mcdermot@rehs.rutgers.edu
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