Lawmakers act against waste movements
15 January 2009
Legislation has been filed to stop the disposal of any foreign origin radioactive waste in the USA. It is a reaction to Energy Solutions' contract to recycle metals from decommissioned power plants in Italy that nuclear leaders say "only pretends to protect the public interest."
The move comes after a long battle between Energy Solutions and various local officials and lawmakers unhappy about the recycling contract - which has been given approval by safety monitors.
Bart Gordon, Jim Matheson and Lee Terry submitted the legislation, entitled the Radioactive Import Deterrence Act, to Congress yesterday. The bill was also put to the Senate by Lamar Alexander.
If enacted under president-elect Barack Obama, the bill would prohibit the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from authorising the entrance of foreign-origin radioactive wastes when a portion of the waste would be disposed of in America, "unless the President deems the importation meets certain national and international goals," Alexander said.
The work
The Energy Solutions contract which sparked the controversy concerns 20,000 tonnes of low-level nuclear waste resulting from the dismantling of nuclear power plants in Italy. One third of the waste is metal which will be extracted for recycle into radiation shielding blocks for export to Japanese customers - the rest is made up of things like papers, resins and clothes.
The processing is to take place at Bear Creek, Tennessee, while the remainder that cannot be recycled will be crushed to 0.5% of its normal size and stored alongside similar US wastes at Energy Solutions' facility in Clive, Utah. The company has said this would be a "small residual amount."
The radiation control and public health administrators of Tennessee and Utah have both stated that they find no technical problems with plans, while a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license for the import is pending, but the idea of any foreign-origin wastes remaining in the USA has angered some.
Misrepresentatives
In public statements yesterday, Congressman Bart Gordon's description of Energy Solutions' plans was notably short on detail: "A company is currently trying to import 20,000 tons of Italian nuclear waste in the USA, where it would be reprocessed in Tennessee and then shipped to Utah for disposal."
The statements went on to link radioactive waste to the release of coal ash from TVA's Kingston coal-fired power plant, which occurred late last year. In that event a total of 4.1 million cubic metres of toxic ash slurry was released to cover and contaminate 111 hectares and 40 homes. "With the recent environmental spill in Tennessee, it is now more important than ever that the USA examines the associated risks with the kinds of waste it handles," began a common statement, while Congressman Bart Gordon wondered what would be the effects of such a "disaster" involving radioactive materials.
"To connect the safe, well managed and highly regulated disposal of low-level radioactive waste with a large accident involving dangerous coal ash is an act of intellectual confusion and irresponsible fear-mongering. This legislation only pretends to protect the public interest," said World Nuclear Association director general John Ritch.