S.C. Nuclear-Waste Landfill Is Closing
- From: "Bob Brock" <bbrock@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 19:38:53 -0400
<http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/N/NUCLEAR_WASTE_NOWHERE_TO_GO?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US>
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Starting next summer, many power plants, hospitals,
universities and companies in 36 states will be forced to store low-level
radioactive waste on their own property because a South Carolina landfill is
closing its doors to them.
The states have known for years that this day would come. But because of
political opposition, environmental fears and cost concerns, most of them
have done almost nothing to construct new landfills in the meantime.
At issue is the Barnwell County dump site, a 235-acre expanse that opened in
1971 close to the Georgia line. The equivalent of more than 40
tractor-trailers full of radioactive trash from 39 states was buried there
each year before South Carolina lawmakers in 2000 ordered the place to scale
back because they no longer wanted the state to be the nation's dumping
ground.
As of July 1, the landfill will take waste only from South Carolina and the
two states with which it formed a partnership, New Jersey and Connecticut.
State and industry officials say the not-in-my-backyard resistance will
ironically lead to "temporary" storage sites in backyards across the nation.
"I'm concerned about it, that my hospitals in my neighborhood will have to
store this stuff on site," said Rita Houskie, administrator for disposal of
the waste in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. Other states affected
by the shutdown include California, New York, Illinois, Florida and Texas.
The danger, some officials say, is that storing the waste in potentially
hundreds of locations across the country could allow radiation to escape.
While none of the trash could be used to make a nuclear bomb, some experts
fear it could be stolen to make "dirty bombs," which use conventional
explosives to scatter radioactive debris.
"As a matter of national security, health and safety, it makes good sense to
ultimately dispose of this stuff and not just store it all over the
country," said Rick Jacobi, a nuclear engineer and former general manager of
the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority.
"There will be hundreds, maybe thousands of them. People won't want to pay
others to store the material. They'll find a closet or warehouse or a shed
out back and stick it in there and see what happens."
(...)
.
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