WHERE TO DUMP
RADIOACTIVE WASTE?The Associated Press, October 4, 1999
Washington -- New Jersey's search for a place to dump low-level radioactive waste cost more than $9 million but was fruitless.
The state at least has good company: All told, states spent $600 million over 18 years but failed to designate even one waste-disposal site, according to the General Accounting Office.
A recent GAO report found that controversy over nuclear waste disposal was one common reason for the widespread failure by states.
That is what happened time and again to the New Jersey Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility Siting Board.
Over nine years, the board heard inklings of interest from a dozen towns curious about the financial incentives and jobs that would come with the disposal site. But when worried residents found out, municipal leaders backtracked and sent the siting board back to its search.
A year ago, the board voted to shut down. That process is taking a while -- "the tent hasn't quite folded," said Amy Collings, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection -- but the board's active days are evidently behind it.
The GAO study found that efforts in other states have stalled or stopped, too.
The situation is not a crisis -- yet. On the bright side, the GAO found that industry is now producing less low-level waste than in the past. For now, the few existing facilities are able to handle it.
Low-level radioactive waste produced in New Jersey is sent to the Chem Nuclear facility at Barnwell, S.C. In 1998, New Jersey's shipments amounted to 8,553 cubic feet, the GAO said.
Two other sites now accept low-level waste -- one in Utah and one in Washington State.
But they will not always be around. The Barnwell site is scheduled to close in 2010, but could curtail access as early as next year. Utah's facility, Envirocare, accepts only slightly contaminated waste.
And potential decommissioning of nuclear plants around 2010 will spike the amount of waste -- both high-level and low-level -- that will need a permanent resting place.
(Disposal of high-level radioactive waste from nuclear reactors is the subject of a separate dispute; a plan to bury the waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada has spurred opposition by that state.)
Low-level radioactive wastes include metal components, resins, paper, liquid, glass, and protective clothing exposed to radioactivity at pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, universities, and nuclear plants.
Congress in 1980 enacted legislation encouraging states to form compacts and provide regional disposal facilities by the end of 1992.
Forty-four states entered into a total of 10 compacts; New Jersey and Connecticut paired up in what became known as the Northeast Compact.
According to the GAO, New Jersey's siting commission spent $9.7 million trying to find a town willing to host the disposal site. It raised the money from industries that produce low-level radioactive waste.
Connecticut's siting commission spent more than $15 million before giving up on a permanent solution. It is now exploring the feasibility of a facility to store wastes for 100 years or more.
The GAO compiled the report at the request of Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairman of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. He said the time has come to declare defeat and move on to other solutions.
"A law was passed, millions of dollars have been spent, 18 years have gone by, yet the problem remains," Murkowski said.
With states having failed, the GAO said responsibility for creating waste disposal sites could be given to commercial industry, or to the federal Department of Energy.
A spokeswoman said Murkowski does not have a solution in mind and is awaiting further GAO studies. His committee may hold hearings on the topic.
"The unfortunate part of this story," Murkowski said in a statement, "is that the materials that are not from nuclear power plants are stored in your neighborhoods and communities. If you have a hospital or a university in your city, you have low-level waste being stored nearby."
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