Waste dump advocates,
opponents meet at summit
(AP) - While Gov. Ben Nelson
hopes a solid solution can come out of a
summit this week on low-level radioac
tive waste, supporters of a proposed
waste dump in Nebraska say the meet
ing may be little more than thin air.
Nelson has called together national
experts and local adversaries to meet
Thursday to discuss alternatives to a
waste-disposal site proposed to be built
in Boyd County.
Supporters of the waste site pro
posed by the Central Interstate Low
Level Radioactive Waste Commission
say alternatives already have been con
sidered.
Nelson cited several national devel
opments, including a halt in other states’
efforts to find waste sites, and sugges
tions by radioactive waste expert Ed
Helminski that efforts to develop new
waste sites should slow down or stop
while consideration is given to using
existing private and federally owned
waste sites.
That suggestion gained added
weight from Helminski’s status as one
of the architects of the system of inter
state compacts, of which Central
Interstate is one, to dispose of waste.
“There’s absolutely no reason to
have any new sites opened anywhere,
even in the federal system,” Helminski
said in an interview last week.
The big change from when
Congress mandated the compact sys
tem in the early 1980s is that the Cold
War is over, Helminski said.
Department of Energy sites formerly
used for building nuclear weapons need
to be cleaned up and potentially could
be used to dispose of low-level waste, he
said.
Gene Crump, executive director of
the Central Interstate commission, said
that group already has explored the
alternatives suggested by Helminski. It
has not been able to reach agreements
for long-term access to private waste
sites in other states including South
Carolina and Washington, he said.
As for access to federal sites, Crump
said, “Thus far, the Department of
Energy has said there’s access only for
federal-generated waste, not state- or
compact-generated waste.”
Nevertheless, Terry Plummer, the
manager of federal Energy
Department’s low-level radioactive
waste program said Helminski is asking
the same questions many other people
are asking.
Because of cleanup agreements the
federal government has reached with
states where federal sites are located,
“the notion that we could make an
immediate change and consider DOE
facilities (for civilian waste disposal) is
probably not realistic,” said Plummer,
who is also scheduled to speak
Thursday.
However, he said, there is a “conver
gence” between federal and commercial
waste management activities, with the
federal government allowing commer
cial ventures on its sites and having
some of its waste treated off-site.
“We as a nation will be able to con
sider these kind of opportunities more in
the future than we do today,” he said.
Crump, who also will speak at the
summit, said he will talk about efforts to
get a state license for the Boyd County
site that so far have cost about $83.9 mil
lion.
While state officials have resisted
commission attempts to speed up their
review, they have said draft documents
on key decisions could be ready by
October.
’’I’m certain that the compact sys
tem is still the best system for disposal
...” Crump said.
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