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ARTICLE ARCHIVE

Radioactive Waste

No safe, permanent solution has yet been found anywhere in the world - and may never be found - for the nuclear waste problem. In the U.S., the only identified and flawed high-level radioactive waste deep repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada has been canceled. Beyond Nuclear advocates for an end to the production of nuclear waste and for securing the existing reactor waste in hardened on-site storage.

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Entries by admin (643)

Friday
Aug062021

"WE DON'T WANT IT!" TX county rejects nuclear fuel dump

Photo take at Feb. 2017 US NRC environmental scoping phase public comment meeting in Andrews, TX, re: WCS CISF application. Used with permission from Karen Hadden, SEED Coalition, Austin, TX.As tweeted by Protect the Basin, the Andrews County, Texas Commissioner's Court "requests that the NRC [U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission] immediately cease the licensing of interim storage of spent nuclear fuel in Andrews County and that it faithfully observes the right of the people of Andrews County and the State of TX to approve or reject a national interim SNF [spent nuclear fuel] storage facility." The Commissioner's Court resolution goes on to state "the Andrews County Judge and Commissioners Court hereby reject the proposed siting of SNF waste in Andrews County, Texas." The unanimous resolution came in response to a groundswell of local public opposition to the proposed high-level radioactive waste dump. Consent-based siting is clearly lacking.

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Monday
Jul192021

Winona LaDuke Among 7 Women Arrested Today at the Shell River; ENBRIDGE TO DRILL LINE 3 UNDER THE SHELL RIVER IN ANISHINAABE TREATY LANDS

Winona "No Nukes" LaDukeAs reported by Honor the Earth.

For a very long time now, Winona "No Nukes" LaDuke (pictured) has worked with Beyond Nuclear, NIRS, and others to block high-level radioactive waste dumps targeted at Native American reservations and treaty lands, such as Skull Valley Goshutes in Utah, Mescalero Apache in New Mexico, and Yucca Mountain on Western Shoshone land in Nevada. See the NIRS/Public Citizen backgrounder about the targeting of Native American communities and lands for high-level radioactive waste dumps.

This threat may well be rearing its ugly head again, as President Biden's Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm, has recently spoken repeated about "financial incentives packages" to entire "Native American tribal governments" to consider "consent-based siting" for high-level radioactive waste consolidated "interim storage" facilities on their lands. As Keith Lewis, environmental director for the Serpent River First Nation, said in the mid 1990s, "There is nothing moral about bribing a starving man with money." Serpent River was ravaged by the radioactive and toxic contamination resulting from a half-century of uranium mining and milling near Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada.

Decades ago, LaDuke did groundbreaking work in opposition to uranium mining and milling on Indigenous lands, and has exposed the nuclear power industry's targeting of Native sacred sites for facility construction and operation.

Last January, Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps traveled out to northern Minnesota, after Winona LaDuke put out the call for folks to stand in solidarity with the Water Protectors.

Friday
Jul022021

New Mexico Congressional Delegation, Governor Send Letter To Energy Secretary Opposing Nuclear Waste Interim Site

NEWS FROM THE NEW MEXICO U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION:

CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION NEWS

U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján, and U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham sent a letter to U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm opposing the interim storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level waste (HLW) in New Mexico.

“We are strongly opposed to the interim storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level waste (HLW) in New Mexico.  There is currently no permanent disposal strategy for SNF and HLW in place at the Department of Energy.  This leaves us extremely concerned that ‘interim’ storage sites with initial 40-year leases, like one proposed for Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licensing in New Mexico, will become the country’s de facto permanent nuclear waste storage facilities.  We cannot accept that result,” they wrote.

There are currently two pending applications before the NRC for licenses to construct and operate consolidated interim storage facilities (CISFs) - one in Andrews, Texas, and one in Lea County, New Mexico. 

“Without a strategy in place at the Department of Energy for permanent waste disposal, any CISF constructed in or near New Mexico could become a waste storage site that is, in essence, permanent.  New Mexico has not and will not consent to such a situation,” they continued.

The New Mexico lawmakers cautioned that, “We cannot repeat such harms by establishing interim nuclear waste storage sites, especially without a permanent waste disposal strategy.  We would welcome collaborative work to establish a coherent, consent-based federal policy on managing and disposing of SNF and HLW, and look forward to engaging in that work with you.”  

Last month, Senator Heinrich raised his concerns about interim storage directly with Secretary Granholm during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing to review the President’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget request for the U.S. Department of Energy.

The full text of the letter is available here, and at this link.

Monday
Jun142021

The Hazards of Transporting Radioactive Waste from Vermont Yankee

Margaret HarringtonNuclear-Free Future, hosted by Margaret Harrington (photo, left), on Channel 17/Town Meeting TV, Burlington, Vermont.

Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist ‘watchdog’ from Beyond Nuclear, talks with host Margaret Harrington about the hazards of transporting radioactive nuclear waste from nuclear reactors, whether Vermont Yankee or Indian Point in New York State. Reactors make plutonium in waste. Wherever nuclear power goes, nuclear weapons follow.

Production date: June 14, 2021

Watch the video 43-minute recording, here.

Thursday
May132021

URGENT: Many Ways to Comment during Public Hearing about Proposed WIPP Expansion

May 13th action alert as posted at the website of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) in Santa Fe, NM:

Monday, May 17th, begins a five-day virtual public hearing by the Hazardous Waste Bureau about the proposed new shaft and doubling of the size of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a dump for plutonium-contaminated waste from the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

You are invited to provide your written comments between now and the end of the hearing to the Hearing Clerk. You can make oral comments on Zoom during the hearing. https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/ , scroll down to March 10, 2021 entry. The hearing is scheduled to begin each day at noon and end at 9 pm Mountain Time, with a two-hour break between 4 and 6 pm Mountain Time. On Monday, May 17th, oral public comments will be heard between 6 and 7 pm Mountain Time. On subsequent days, public comment will be heard between noon and 1 pm and between 6 and 7 pm Mountain Time.

Each person can make oral comments only once during the five-day hearing and they are limited to five minutes. You can sign-up to give comments using the chat function on Zoom. You will be called on to speak in the order in which people signed up. If too many people sign up for the one-hour session, they will be called first in the next public comment session. https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/ , scroll down to March 10, 2021 entry and the May 11, 2021 Pre-Hearing Order.

This information is found on p. 3 of the NMED Public Notice at: https://www.env.nm.gov/hazardous-waste/wipp/ , scroll down to March 10, 2021 entry and March 18, 2021 Hearing Public Notice .

The Zoom hearing may be joined through the following meeting link:

https://zoom.us/j/91728945523?pwd=YitrSUtFYnZkcE5hVGFrb2Z1UDlUdz09

Meeting ID: 917 2894 5523
Passcode:050223

To join by telephone:

For higher quality, dial a number based on your current location.

Dial: US: 1-669-900-6833 or 1-253-215-8782 or 1-346-248-7799 or 1-929-436-2866 or 1-301-715-8592 or 1-312-626-6799

Meeting ID: 917 2894 5523
Passcode: 050223

There is no restriction on the number of written comments you can submit to the Hearing Clerk at Madai.Corral@state.nm.us.

WIPP is the only operating deep geologic repository for radioactive and hazardous waste created by the U.S. nuclear weapons industry in the world. It is located 26 miles east of Carlsbad, New Mexico and scheduled to close in 2024. But the Department of Energy (DOE) has other plans. https://wipp.energy.gov/

Where can you find more information about the DOE’s expansion plans, key issues, and how to participate in the public hearing? The Stop Forever WIPP Coalition has prepared five newsletters. Newsletters four and five are available in both English and Spanish.

The Coalition has prepared three sample public comments in English and Spanish you can use. The topics cover public participation, land use, other economic considerations, and DOE’s broken promises and misrepresentations. You can use the information to create your own comment letter.


All of this information and more is available at the Stop Forever WIPP website, https://stopforeverwipp.org/ , and Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/StopfvrWIPP/ , along with sample public comments you can use in both English and Spanish. They are also posted on this website in the right column next to this article under the STOP WIPP logo .

Please share this Update with your friends, family and colleagues. It’s time to raise your voice!

[See the Spanish language version of this alert, as well as a link to an audio recording, at CCNS's website.]