CONSERVATION

MOJAVE DESERT TO GET "LOW LEVEL" RADIOACTIVE DUMP

A mere 18 miles west of Needles lies Ward Valley. Turning south off the freeway for about a mile and a half, you come to a Mojave Indian Petroglyph site.

About a mile before you reach this you pass another kind of site - the proposed location for what at least 18 other states have already turned down but want us to accept - a dump for 'low level' nuclear waste.

The state of California is proposing to dump deadly radioactive waste in our Mojave Desert! This site, only 13 miles west of the Colorado River and 18 miles west of Needles, will soon become (if the state has its say) the dumping ground for our nation's 'low level' radioactive waste.

Eighteen states have already expressed interest in dumping in California.

'Low level' radioactive waste doss not mean low radiation, and is not low risk. This deadly waste will be dumped into unlined trenches 600 feet above a pristine underground lake nearly the size of Lake Tahoe.

The term 'low level' is misleading. Some of the wastes classified as 'low level' are actually more hazardous than the fuel rods from nuclear reactors. Some of the materials to be dumped here remain hazardous for as long 320 million years!

ALL SIX 'LOW LEVEL' RADIOACTIVE DUMPS IN THE UNITED STATES ARE CURRENTLY LEAKING! Three sites have had catastrophic leaks and have had to be closed.

The State of California has chosen a private firm, US Ecology, to build and operate the $30 million dump. US Ecology constructed the radioactive waste dumps at Sheffield, Illinois and Naxey Flats, Kentucky. Both these dumps are leaking, and have had to be closed.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that there is no technology available at this time to fully clean up radioactive dumps.

I found out just this afternoon that a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) is expected to be released sometime next month, followed in about two weeks by a notice of intent to license.

It appears that the only thing preventing full license issuance at this time is the blockage by Earl Grey (State Controller) and Leo McCarthy (Lt. Governor) of the transfer of the property from the BLM to the state. We're hoping that this will delay the licensing of the site until later next year, giving us some additional time to save our desert.

However, there is much interest at the federal level in getting this dump into operation. The whole process could be short-circuited by a license approval at the federal level.

This could spell disaster, since the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has the power to direct waste into a state from anywhere in the United States, regardless of more localized laws to the contrary. Since the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the nuclear industry have concluded that only two or three dumps are needed nationwide, our Mojave Desert could end up being one of the two or three sites obligated to accept this deadly rubble from all the other states.
 
  * * * * * Pat Acheson
 
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