January 9, 2011
From Chatanoogan.com
Over 20 organizations, including the Tennessee Environmental Council, Citizensto End Nuclear Dumping in Tennessee, and theOak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance are calling for public adjudicatoryhearings on a proposal to import worldwide radioactive waste to burn in Tennessee.
Utah-based EnergySolutions is applying to the U.S. Nuclear RegulatoryCommission (NRC) bring nuclear waste from Eckert and Ziegler Nuclitec, a Germancompany, which, according to its website, collects radioactive wastes from allover the world.
If approved by NRC, the radioactive waste would be shipped into and through Virginia to Oak Ridge, where EnergySolutions would incinerate it.
Kathleen Ferris, co-founder of Citizens to End Nuclear Dumping in Tennessee(ENDIT), states, “If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) grants the licensefor which ES has applied, this will open the door not only to 1,000 tons of Germannuclear waste from other countries, but in the future to untold amounts ofradioactive waste from around the world. Tennesseewill become the radioactive garbage burner and disposer for the world.”
Don Safer, Tennessee Environmental Council chairman, said, “The whole idea ofburning radioactive waste is insane; burning does not diminish theradioactivity, it just concentrates the radiation and always entails the riskof airborne emissions of deadly fine particulate radiation. In addition therewill be unavoidable exposure of Tennesseeworkers to harmful radiation.
“The EnergySolutions application is completely inadequate to answer basicquestions about the world-wide radioactive waste that would travel here from Germany.”
Many of these groups previously called for hearings on an EnergySolutionsproposal to import much of Italy’snuclear waste to process and dump in Tennesseeand Utah.That application was withdrawn, but the company still plans to bring in theItalian waste to Tennessee,it was stated.
The requested hearings would be held "to answer key questions and addressconcerns of the general public and locally impacted individuals andgroups," the groups said.
The wording for the public hearing request states, “We are outraged by thefundamental inadequacy of this import/export application to provide basicinformation about the characteristics of the radioactive waste proposed forimport to the U.S."
Ms. Ferris said, “We are told after burning they will return the ash to Germany. Whybring it here in the first place? What gets released into our air and water anddumped in our local landfills? We are also concerned about public safety duringthis unnecessary transit back and forth around the globe and through ourcommunities.”
Some of the questions in need of answers, according to the request are:
· What the waste is; its character, class, volume, mass, curies (amount ofradioactivity) of all radionuclides, chemical, and physical form?
· Where the waste is coming from (countries and industries) as the Germancompany is a collector of radioactive waste from all over the world?
· How long will the radioactive waste be in the United States?
· How much radioactivity will stay here and where will it go? (Presently TNDepartment of Environment & Conservation permit allows Energy Solutions torelease some radioactive waste material to go to unrestricted destinations suchas commercial and municipal landfills.)
· Will any radioactivity get into recycling per EnergySolutions state license?
· Compliance with licenses still allows radioactivity to escape into the airand water.
· How much radioactivity will go back to Europeand how will it get there? What are the transport risks, liability insurancerequirements and protocols for containers?
· What level of workplace related risks and exposures will employees incur,what minimum allowable radiation dose will be allowed, and who is responsiblefor the healthcare of these workers?
· What will be the cumulative effects of adding radioactive releases from incineratingforeign nuclear waste for citizens in the Oak Ridge area already exposed todaily and accidental radioactive releases from other nearby incinerators, wasteprocessing, bomb manufacturing, research and existing radioactive contaminationin the area?
The request includes this statement: “A hearing is also in the public interestbecause many individuals, residents, organizations and the public at large willbe impacted by the transport and incineration of the radioactive waste to beimported. The waste must be transported along highways from a Virginiacoastal port to and from Oak Ridge,where it poses the risk of normal and accidental radiation emissions. Duringincineration, the waste also poses a risk of radioactive liquid and gaseousreleases (legal or illegal).”
The groups are encouraging the public to contact Governor-elect Haslam "toask him to carefully consider and reject this proposal to advance Tennessee’s role as aleading state in radioactive waste processing and disposal practices."
The organizations both in and outside Tennesseerequesting the hearings are:
Tennessee Environmental Council
Citizens to End Nuclear Dumping in Tennessee—ENDIT
Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance
Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League
Catholic Committee of Appalachia
We the People
Coffee Party Progressives
Defense Depot Memphis Tennessee Concerned Citizens Committee
Nashville Greenlands
Sierra Club Chapters: Tennessee, Virginia. Ohio, Toiyabe,South Carolina
Friends of the Earth
Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team (BEST/MATRR)
Citizens Task Force
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Nuclear Watch South
Beyond Nuclear
Don't Waste Michigan
Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes
Citizens Resistance at Fermi Two
Radiation and Public Health Project
HEAL Utah
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
**Hearing Docket Numbers 110-05896 and 110-05897 EnergySolutions applicationsIW029 and XW018;
***In what appears to be an unusual response to requests for an extension oftime in which to comment on the proposed worldwide nuclear waste importproposal, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted an extension of 19 days tojust 10 individuals. According to the order, comments from those 10 people arenow due January 18, 2011.