Fw: Radioactive Waste in Landfills Alert

[Guest guest]

" What do you do with the mountains of the highly dangerous leftover stuff that

stays that way for 10,000 years? " " Why, you do the same thing with it as the

other dangerous stuff. " " Foist it off on the unsuspecting public of course. "

 

" That way it will make room for a bunch more dangeous leftover stuff, so that

the big boys can make a lot more money. " " After all ya gotta have priorities,

ya know, and what use it to have the best government that money can buy if we

don't use it. "

 

 

Radioactive Waste in Landfills Alert

 

 

 

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info

Friday, April 23, 2004 3:11 PM

Radioactive Waste in Landfills Alert

 

[NOTE from Helane Shields, sewage sludge researcher, Alton, NH:

 

Official EPA policy is to dispose of radioactive landfill and Superfund

leachates in sewage treatment plants around the country. As indicated below **,

the EPA and NRC acknowledge that the wastewater treatment process reconcentrates

the radionuclides from the landfill (and Superfund) leachates in the sewage

sludge " biosolids " which is then spread as " fertilizer " on agricultural land in

Rural America -- or, in the case of " Class A " sewage sludge " biosolids " compost

and/or pellets -- sold by the bag at nurseries, garden shops, hardware stores,

WalMart, Home Depot and other retailers around the country for use by home

gardeners -- with no warnings as to the contents.]

 

 

Contact EPA Today to STOP Radioactive Waste >From Going to Regular Landfills.

 

Send in Your Comments by May 17, 2004.

 

EPA Proposed New Rule:

Nuclear Power and Weapons Waste to go to Regular Landfills & other

“Non-Regulated Managementâ€

 

Comments due to EPA by May 17, 2004

Email to: a-and-r-Docket

Attn: Docket OAR-2003-0095

 

or upload them onto EPA’s website www.epa.gov/radiation

 

The US Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a new rule (68 FR

22:65120-65151, Nov 18, 2003) that would allow nuclear and mixed waste to go to

places that are not licensed for radioactive materials. The goal appears to be

to " redefine " radioactive materials, no matter what their source (nuclear power,

nuclear weapons, naturally occurring or other), based on EPA-calculated and

projected risks. The new category of nuclear materials (once called BRC or Below

Regulatory Concern) would supposedly not need radioactive regulatory controls.

EPA does not consider all the potential health effects of radiation and

hazardous materials in estimating the risks. They have never demonstrated the

accuracy of their predictions. (See " Summary of EPA Proposal " below for more

details.) EPA’s rule threatens to preempt and supercede existing state laws

that prohibit nuclear waste in solid waste landfills or other sites. VT, ME, OH,

WI, IL, MN, CO, OR, PA, CT, WV, NM, IA, are among states that have

passed such laws and regulations. OK, GA and VA passed resolutions in one or

both houses and counties and towns in many other states have resolutions against

this action.

 

TAKE ACTION!

 

1) Send a letter to the new EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt and encourage him to

withdraw EPA's proposed action. leavitt.michael

 

Administrator Mike Leavitt, US Environmental Protection Agency, 1101A,

Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. Washington, DC 20460

 

2) Send comments to EPA and get organizations and landfill boards to do so at:

 

a-and-r-Docket

Docket No. OAR-2003-0095.

 

The proposal is on the EPA website www.epa.gov/radiation.

 

3) Let your elected officials know how you feel about these dangers by sending

them a copy of your letter to Secretary Leavitt and telling them about your

opposition to the federal rules that would deregulate and exempt nuclear

materials from regulation.

 

For more information contact:

 

Diane D'Arrigo, Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), 1424 16th

Street NW Suite 404, Washington, DC 20036, dianed, 202 328-0002 ext 16.

See NIRS website under Campaigns at www.nirs.org for more info and actions. The

proposal was published Nov 18, 2003 at 68 FR 22-65120-65151.

 

Summary of EPA Proposal

 

1) First, EPA would allow mixed radioactive and hazardous wastes to go to

facilities permitted for hazardous waste only (RCRA C hazardous waste dumps &

processors).

 

2) Second, radioactive waste (not mixed with hazardous) could be permitted to go

to places that do not have radioactive licenses or regulations, such as regular

garbage dumps or incinerators or hazardous sites. Since the nuclear waste would

no longer be regulated for radioactivity, it could go to regular recyclers. EPA

justifies this by claiming they will provide an acceptable level of protection

>from radiation risk. It seems obvious this would be a problem for communities

around the waste sites, many of which already leak.

 

3) Third, EPA suggests that a “non-regulatory approach†to management of

radioactive waste is an option and requests creative ideas for “partneringâ€

with waste generators or other schemes to relieve the regulatory burden. Nothing

would prevent radioactive materials from going to recycling facilities and being

mixed with the normal recycling streams which are made into everyday household

items like toys, cookware, personal use items, cars, furniture and civil

engineering projects like roads and buildings.

 

4) This dangerous proposal dovetails neatly into the US Nuclear Regulatory

Commission's rulemaking to deregulate and release radioactive material from

control, ironically called " Control of Solids. " The NRC is considering several

options for nuclear waste deregulation including continuing the current

case-by-case release procedures, starting new release procedures that are based

on projected risks, sending the waste to sites that are not licensed for nuclear

materials. NRC is claiming they could approve " restricted " release of nuclear

waste meaning certain conditions would apply but that NRC would not enforce

them--someone else, as yet un-named would.

 

The upshot is that NRC and EPA are joining forces to allow nuclear power and

weapons waste which is now generally required to be regulated and controlled, to

be released to waste sites and processors never designed to take radioactive

materials and to the marketplace where it will come into routine daily contact

with us, our kids and environment.

 

5) To make matters even worse, the US NRC and US Department of Transportation on

1-26-04 finalized new transport regulations (TSR-1) that would exempt various

levels of hundreds of radionuclides from regulatory control in transit. This

will make it easier for NRC and EPA to deregulate nuclear wastes since they will

no longer require regulation, labeling or control as radioactive material during

transportation. (This is especially distressing in light of increased security

concerns about transportation of nuclear materials that could be used for dirty

bombs. More unregulated nuclear materials will be on the roads, rails, barges

and aircraft.) NIRS is challenging DOT & NRC on this.

 

6) Finally, the Department of Energy is in the process of a Programmatic

Environmental Impact Statement on releasing radioactive materials from its

sites. In 2000, DOE halted the commercial recycling of potentially radioactive

metals from certain contaminated area on its sites, but could resume it. DOE

continues to allow radioactively contaminated metals out for unregulated

disposal and to allow other radioactively contaminated materials out for

recycling or unregulated disposal—soils, concrete, asphalt, plastic, wood,

equipment, buildings, sites and more. EPA’s Nov. 18, 2003 notice would help

legalize DOE’s release of nuclear weapons wastes from regulatory control.

 

7) EPA’s rule threatens to preempt and supercede existing state laws that

prohibit nuclear waste in solid waste landfills or other sites. VT, ME, OH, WI,

IL, MN, CO, OR, PA, CT, WV, NM, IA, are among states that have passed such laws

and regulations. OK, GA and VA passed resolutions in one or both houses and

counties and towns in many other states have resolutions against this action.

Notify your state and local officials to comment and uphold your protections

against nuclear power and weapons wastes!

 

********************************************************************************\

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** 3.3.1 Reconcentration of Radioactive Materials at POTWs ( " POTW " = publicly

owned sewage treatment works)

 

 

The purpose of wastewater treatment facilities is to reduce or remove pollutants

from wastewater in order to ensure adequate water quality before the treated

effluent is reused or discharged to surface waters. The removal of radionuclide

contaminants by various wastewater treatment processes and the usual association

of these contaminants with solids can cause the concentration of the

contaminants to increase, or reconcentrate, in sewage sludge and ash.

Radioactive materials disposed of into the sanitary sewer in dilute form may

become reconcentrated in the sludge solids during different stages of wastewater

treatment and sludge processing, in a manner similar to some heavy metals.

 

http://www.iscors.org/sewageguidance06-2000.htm

 

 

United States Environmental Protection Agency United States Nuclear Regulatory

Commission June 2000

Guidance on Radioactive Materials in Sewage Sludge and Ash at Publicly Owned

Treatment Works

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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