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Show AROUND THE BEND AGAIN... in San Juan County Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) without tl lreview. There was a very short time, less than two months, between the time of the application and its approval. The company had received approval from NRC to consider the radioactive waste as “ore” in order for the company to receive it. But only a small amount of uranium would be recovered and processed through its mi But here’s the catch. The uranium mill was only designed to process and recover uranium from conventional-type ores. The acceptance and processing of these other alternate feed materials had not even been considered when studies were being conducted and plans made to build the processing plant. This means that upon acceptance of the material, International Uranium, with NRC blessing and a cozy relationship, is performing "sham recycling” so it can store radioactive waste just as does northern Utah’s Envirocare. The recoverable uranium content of the waste material can barely support the cost of recycling the waste as ore. The primary goal then of International Uranium is to receive the disposal fee, millions By Ken Sleight of dollars worth, from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which the corporation calls a "recycling fee." Pome call it a corporate welfare grant. And others a bribe. The NRC approved the tr ly politically motivated, in an unusually hurried order-— even though in April 1998 the US. “Army Corps of Engineers directed this material to be excavated and shipped offsite for disposal at an “appropriately licensed" facility." The White Mesa mill has yet to be appropriately licensed. So why did NRC decide to issue it? That is the question. The NRC is mandated to approve license applications on the basis of a set of guidance instructions. This "guidance list" addresses ten items that must be evaluated before making a determination that such material can be disposed in a tailings impoundment. Among them are such issues as the radiological nature of the material, existing regulation of the FIGHTING THE WHITE MESA NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP THE MAKINGS OF ANOTHER ENVIROCARE More nuclear waste is on its way to San Juan County! And more is threatened-— compliments of the waste dumps of New York and International Uranium Corporation. A classic government/corporate conglomeration. The situation is of even greater import than previously thought---the flood walls have broken. Thousands of tons of radioactive waste, the dangerous residue from the construction of the first atomic bomb during the Manhattan Project, lies in the Tonawanda, New York dumpsites. This is the waste that was generated from the Hiroshima bomb which killed more than 200,000 people. The material is so hazardous that an environmental group (FACT) in New York had filed a federal lawsuit that raised elie about the clean-up project’s safety. The radioactive material, eventually is to be moved from a number of sites in New York. The initial ones are known as the Ashland 1 and Ashland 2 sites. The uranium-bearing material in question, weighing about 25,000 dry tons, is located at the Ashland 2 site in the town of Tonawanda, New York. This was shipped first, much of it already having been delivered. In May 1998, the International Uranium Corporation requested an amendment to its existing NRC Source Material License, for approval for the ~ acceptance of this Ashland 2 "alternate feed material” (i.e., mixed radioactive and chemical . material other than natural uranium ore). Envisioning millions of dollars in profit, International Uranium feverishly schemed to get this radioactive waste for storage and disposal at its White Mesa facility to the detriment of San Juan County. The corporation is not without mystery. Its corporate structure is little known to us. When the company was asked at a recent Navajo Utah Commission meeting who ultimately owned the company and who its high ranking officers were, no answers were forthcoming. In June 1998, the Army Corps of Engineers began a $38 million excavation and cleanup of the Ashland 2 material. The waste is placed in large containers and loaded onto flatbed railroad cars for the haul to Utah. The hazardous matter will then be hauled by truck from railroad sidings near Moab, Utah to the White Mesa mill. Some sixty truck loads of waste per week will pass through the towns of Moab, Monticello, and Blanding. Much of the Ashland 2 material has already been stockpiled at the mill site. It will be processed alone or commingled with conventional uranium ores. But there are many questions to be investigated. The License Amendment had been quickly approved by the BOOK CLIFFS Thompson Look into my eyes. | control your vertical. | control your horizontal. You will buy a lot at Thompson. You will like it. material, the hazardous nature of the material, and a consideration of potential environmental impacts. The NRC failed to fully follow these guidances in making this determination. It did not contact the State of Utah to determine if the state agreed to take title to the waste after closure. Not accomplished either was an evaluation of whether a waste "would be approved for disposal." Dianne Nielson, the executive director of the Utah State Department of Environmental Quality, stated that a policy decision which shifts "reprocessing" to "waste disposal in disguise" will trigger several issues-—including the need for a state sighting approval, a need for a license for waste disposal of these materials, the payment of appropriate waste disposal fees to the state, and the need for a state groundwater discharge permit." Pretty clear cut. As the White Mesa mill has already been receiving alternate feed materials, legal or not, there is now increased interest by the nuclear industry across the nation to unload its dangerous stuff on facilities like White Mesa. Where will this ever stop? Is San Juan County now to be deluged with the nation’s hazardous waste? Is it to become another Envirocare? The revenue for accepting the waste for disposal or storage by the company has been estimated by some reviewers as upward to $1.00 per cubic foot of material. This equates to millions of dollars that go directly to International Uranium. The company would be the winner, the county the loser. None of this revenue would go to the county even though it absorbs most of the costs of the impacts. And that radioactive stuff would sit there through the centuries, long after International Uranium ran away with its short-term gain. Here it comes again! Now comes a new license amendment request from International Uranium with a new scheme. The company seeks the Ashland 1 material. Another windfall. But the public has geared up for this one, insisting that an environmental review be prepared. As no public comments on environmental matters were even asked for by the NRC before making its decision on the last license amendment, it is feared the agency might do the same on this one. A new Environmental Impact Statement must be prepared, advocates say. There are so many new factors—-environmentally, culturally, and economic-—that have not been previously addressed. Upon reading the initial EIS report, prepared years ago, I find it most revealing. The HOMESTEADS Springs, Utah Call Janie Tuft at 259.7488 |