By Amy Joi O'Donoghue
Deseret News
Published: Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010
1:15 a.m. MST
SALT LAKE CITY — Planned shipments of depleted uranium from the U.S. Department of Energy's South Carolina's storage site will not be shipped to Utah under an agreement negotiated Monday by Gov. Gary Herbert.
"This is a monumental win for the state of Utah," Herbert said. "At one point, we were told these trains were all but on the tracks, making their way to Utah. The Department of Energy has now agreed, after we registered our concerns, that those trains will head elsewhere."
In addition to derailing the two remaining shipments of 7,000 tons of the material, Herbert said federal regulators agreed to take back the depleted uranium that came in December if planned state changes to the disposal process fall through.
HEAL Utah's executive director was delighted with the news of the averted shipments.
"Today we celebrate the huge victory won by Gov. Herbert for the people of Utah," said Vanessa Pierce. "We salute him, as well as the scientists, concerned citizens, and radiation control board members who have played an active role in safeguarding the health of all Utahns from this dangerous material."
Herbert met for an hour in Washington, D.C., with Ines Triay, the department's assistant secretary for environmental management. As a result, the department agreed to divert two train loads of depleted uranium originally intended for storage at EnergySolutions' Clive facility in Tooele County.
Additionally, a DOE representative will travel to Utah to address the state's Radiation Control Board and will work closely with state regulators to develop a site-specific performance assessment to determine if depleted uranium can be safely stored at Clive.
That process is expected to take up to two years.
Members of the state Radiation Control Board are also sifting through the dozens of comments the agency received on a proposed rule that puts in place site-specific conditions for the storage of depleted uranium.
The public comment period ended in early February and the board is reviewing those comments as part of the decision to either adopt the rule as written or institute changes.
Finerfrock said division staff are compiling responses to the comments, which will be incorporated into a "Public Participation Document" that will be available for review.
The terms of the agreement reached between Herbert and the Department of Energy will also be outlined in a written document.
Read more:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/700011309/Herbert-derails-Utah-bound-shipments-of-depleted-uranium.html
Showing posts with label depleted uranium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label depleted uranium. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Utahns voice opposition to depleted uranium storage
Published: Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010 6:45 p.m. MST
SALT LAKE CITY — A chorus of opposition to the storage of depleted uranium in Utah rang out Tuesday night during a public hearing on a proposed rule that would put in place additional restrictions.
The hearing, intended to gather input on those new restrictions, instead focused more on general outright opposition to storing the radioactive waste altogether.
"You err on the side of caution; you err on the side of protection," said Robert Henline, who added that it was "unfortunate he had to come before the board at all."
Provo resident Jeri Roos called depleted uranium "a very nasty waste."
"We may not understand all the science, but what matters is we don't want it," Roos said.
She said that for too long Utah has been "the dumping ground" for other states' radioactive material, and it's time to stop.
More stringent controls on site-specific storage conditions are being contemplated as EnergySolutions readies for two additional shipments that will bring the total amount of material to 10,500 tons destined for disposal at its Clive, Tooele County, facility.
Earlier this month, Gov. Gary Herbert ordered independent sampling of the first shipment of drums, which sits above ground pending the new restrictions being put into place.
Of concern is the nature of the low-level radioactive waste, which, while classified as Class A — or the least hot — has critics concerned because it grows hotter over time.
EnergySolutions landed a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to store 14,000 drums of the material in Clive, with the shipments originating at the Department of Energy's Savannah River site in South Carolina.
Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process.
The department says the major health concerns about DU relate to its chemical properties as a heavy metal, rather than its radioactivity, which is described as very "low."
But critics such as HEAL Utah have urged state regulators to go so far as to put a moratorium on any shipments of the material while the Nuclear Regulatory Commission goes through its own fact finding to establish site-specific storage conditions.
They argue that its current classification as Class A waste is faulty given so many unknowns and that depleted uranium is an inappropriate material to be stored at such shallow depth offered by EnergySolutions.
Additionally, because it reaches "peak" radioactivity at a million years, they contend that any storage conditions that don't anticipate those changes fall short of protecting public safety and the environment.
The proposed rule calls for performance assessments on storage that go out 10,000 years, and the company has agreed to extend its depth of cover for disposal, as well as install radon detectors.
In addition to the public hearing, written comments are being accepted on the proposed rule until the close of business Feb. 2. They can be sent to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Radiation Control, Room 212, Airport East Business Building, 168 N. 1950 West, Salt Lake City, UT, 84114-4850.
The rule can be reviewed at http://www.radiationcontrol.utah.gov/
Read more:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/705361246/Utahns-voice-opposition-to-depleted-uranium-storage.html
SALT LAKE CITY — A chorus of opposition to the storage of depleted uranium in Utah rang out Tuesday night during a public hearing on a proposed rule that would put in place additional restrictions.
The hearing, intended to gather input on those new restrictions, instead focused more on general outright opposition to storing the radioactive waste altogether.
"You err on the side of caution; you err on the side of protection," said Robert Henline, who added that it was "unfortunate he had to come before the board at all."
Provo resident Jeri Roos called depleted uranium "a very nasty waste."
"We may not understand all the science, but what matters is we don't want it," Roos said.
She said that for too long Utah has been "the dumping ground" for other states' radioactive material, and it's time to stop.
More stringent controls on site-specific storage conditions are being contemplated as EnergySolutions readies for two additional shipments that will bring the total amount of material to 10,500 tons destined for disposal at its Clive, Tooele County, facility.
Earlier this month, Gov. Gary Herbert ordered independent sampling of the first shipment of drums, which sits above ground pending the new restrictions being put into place.
Of concern is the nature of the low-level radioactive waste, which, while classified as Class A — or the least hot — has critics concerned because it grows hotter over time.
EnergySolutions landed a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to store 14,000 drums of the material in Clive, with the shipments originating at the Department of Energy's Savannah River site in South Carolina.
Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process.
The department says the major health concerns about DU relate to its chemical properties as a heavy metal, rather than its radioactivity, which is described as very "low."
But critics such as HEAL Utah have urged state regulators to go so far as to put a moratorium on any shipments of the material while the Nuclear Regulatory Commission goes through its own fact finding to establish site-specific storage conditions.
They argue that its current classification as Class A waste is faulty given so many unknowns and that depleted uranium is an inappropriate material to be stored at such shallow depth offered by EnergySolutions.
Additionally, because it reaches "peak" radioactivity at a million years, they contend that any storage conditions that don't anticipate those changes fall short of protecting public safety and the environment.
The proposed rule calls for performance assessments on storage that go out 10,000 years, and the company has agreed to extend its depth of cover for disposal, as well as install radon detectors.
In addition to the public hearing, written comments are being accepted on the proposed rule until the close of business Feb. 2. They can be sent to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Radiation Control, Room 212, Airport East Business Building, 168 N. 1950 West, Salt Lake City, UT, 84114-4850.
The rule can be reviewed at http://www.radiationcontrol.utah.gov/
Read more:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/705361246/Utahns-voice-opposition-to-depleted-uranium-storage.html
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Utah governor orders depleted uranium testing
Comment: Utah stop being someone else dumping ground, tell SC to keep their own junk in their own yards, SC are bragging they want to be the Nuke Power in the World, so if you make it , keep it!
Posted: 2:27 PM Jan 13, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has ordered the testing of barrels of depleted uranium from South Carolina to see how radioactive it is.
Smith says the Division of Radiation Control will collect samples and send them to an outside lab for testing within two months.
Herbert's testing request comes after an environmental group says it reviewed shipping manifests for some of the waste and found the barrels contain waste in concentrations higher than state law allows EnergySolutions to accept.
Read more:
http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/81343537.html
Posted: 2:27 PM Jan 13, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah Gov. Gary Herbert has ordered the testing of barrels of depleted uranium from South Carolina to see how radioactive it is.
Smith says the Division of Radiation Control will collect samples and send them to an outside lab for testing within two months.
Herbert's testing request comes after an environmental group says it reviewed shipping manifests for some of the waste and found the barrels contain waste in concentrations higher than state law allows EnergySolutions to accept.
Read more:
http://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/81343537.html
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