Floods, fires, explosions, and earthquake fault lines threaten radioactive waste dumps

As reported by CBS This Morning, the underground garbage dump fire at the West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, Missouri, creeping ever closer to illegally buried Manhattan Project radioactive wastes in the Missouri River floodplain, has local residents deeply scared. Radioactivity has already leaked into the surrounding community, as in public parks, over the 42 years since the radioactive wastes were illegally dumped there in 1973. As CBS This Morning reported, the risks include not only the underground fire, but also a nearby earthquake faultline.

Beyond Nuclear board member Kay Drey of St. Louis has long watchdogged this illegal dumpsite, nearby and upstream from major metro St. Louis drinking water intakes. In March 2015, Drey and colleagues in St. Louis published a pamphlet entitled "Remove the radioactive wastes NOW! Protect Metro St. Louis' water and air from West Lake Landfill's radioactive contamination!" It includes a map, showing that the radioactive wastes at West Lake Landfill are upstream of the drinking water intakes for North County and the City of St. Louis, on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The pamphlet urges readers to "Please go to www.moenviron.org to sign a letter asking U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill and Roy Blunt and Congress members William Lacy Clay and Ann Wagner to work to transfer responsibility for West Lake’s radioactive wastes to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers."

As Beyond Nuclear put out in its weekly email bulletion on October 22, 2015:

"Thousands of tons of nuclear weapons wastes are near an underground fire at the West Lake Landfill in north St. Louis County. The radioactive wastes originated in the 1940s and 1950s when Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, near downtown St. Louis, processed uranium in secrecy for nuclear weapons. The wastes were illegally dumped at the landfill in 1973." Radioactive wastes have leaked into the local neighborhood and residents in areas adjacent to the landfill have childhood brain cancers 300 times higher than expected and cases of appendix cancer have been found. More  

SIGN THE PETITION calling for a "Declaration of Emergency" in the wake of the fire moving toward this waste.

And, along very similar lines, very heavy rains in Beatty, Nevada appear to have contributed to a series of powerful explosions, and a fire lasting 12 hours, in a so-called "low" level radioactive waste burial trench, that took place on Sunday, October 18th. The radioactive waste dump began operations in 1962, and was abandoned by U.S. Ecology in 1992.

As Dr. Marvin Resnikoff wrote in his 1987 book Living Without Landfills: Confronting the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Crisis, all seven so-called "low-level" radioactive waste dumps opened in the U.S., including U.S. Ecology's dump in Beatty, Nevada, leaked.

And, as CBS This Morning reported above about the earthquake risks at the Bridgeton, MO West Lake Landfill, Beatty, Nevada is in a very seismically (and even potentially volcanically) active area.

The State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects has compiled the extensive media coverage that has accrued, including a 40-second video of the series of explosions, showing the smoke clouds from the underground fires billowing out, into the air. See the compilation links below, in reverse chronological order:

 Sunday, October 25, 2015
3News - Nuclear dump near Beatty has history of problems, lax oversight - By Ken Ritter, Associated Press

Friday, October 23, 2015

• KTNV Las Vegas - CONTACT 13: Video released of explosions at low-level radioactive waste facility - Darcy Spears
• Las Vegas Review-Journal - Video shows blasts at nuclear waste dump site that shut down U.S. 95 - Keith Rogers
• Las Vegas SUN - Nuclear repository fire shines light on Nevada's waste - Kyle Roerink

Thursday, October 22, 2015

• Las Vegas Review-Journal - Nye County officials sorry for fire information lag time - Keith Rogers

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

• Las Vegas Review-Journal - Fire that shut down US 95 called hot, powerful - Keith Rogers
• Las Vegas SUN - Beatty residents call for transparency after nuclear fire - Kyle Roerink
• ABC News - Correction: Radioactive Waste Plant-Fire Story - Ken Ritter
• KLAS-TV - Residents want answers about why US Ecology fire started - Patrick Walker
• KTNV Las Vegas - Town halls set about radioactive waste site fire in Nevada

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

• AP - Monitors arrive after radioactive waste site fire in Nevada - Sally Ho, Ken Ritter
• KSNV News3LV - Residents near nuclear waste site say they were lied to about fire
• Las Vegas Review-Journal - Investigators taking close look at radioactive waste dump fire - Henry Brean and Keith Rogers
• Reuters - Tests show no contamination from fire at Nevada waste site - Alexia Shurmur

Monday, October 19, 2015

• KOLO 8 Reno - Fire at Radioactive Waste Plant in Nevada Closes Schools
• Las Vegas Review-Journal - Sandoval orders state agencies to work with Nye County in hazardous-waste fire - Ricardo Torres
• Las Vegas SUN - Fire at radioactive waste site is out; air testing underway - Sally Ho and Ken Ritter, Associated Press

Follow continuing news updates by visiting the State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Project's What's News page.

Legal counsel for environmental coalition files Initial Reply Brief against NRC's false nuclear waste confidence

Protestors from the Crabshell Alliance, Sierra Club, NIRS, Nuclear Energy Information Service of IL, Public Citizen, Beyond Nuclear, and other groups just say "NO!" to NRC's Nuclear Waste Con Game during a Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel GEIS public comment meeting at NRC HQ in Rockville, MD in late 2013.On October 23, 2015, attorneys representing a coalition of environmental groups filed an Initial Reply Brief, in response to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) brief, in the New York II case being heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Geoffrey Fettus serves as legal counsel for NRDC, and Diane Curran and Mindy Goldstein serve as legal counsel for Beyond Nuclear, et al. (see the full list of environmental coalition groups involved in the legal appeal at the bottom of this entry).

In its New York I ruling of June 2012, the DC Circuit vacated NRC's Nuclear Waste Confidence Decision, and ordered an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to be performed by the agency.

In its Initial Reply Brief, the environmental coalition has argued that the "Court should vacate the Rule and GEIS," as due, for example, to NRC's "failure to comply with the Court’s explicit instruction" in New York I to analyze the risks of a repository for disposal of irradiated nuclear fuel never being opened.

NRC has renamed its Rule and Generic Environmental Impact Statement "Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel," instead of using its debunked, infamous previous name, "Nuclear Waste Confidence." Large numbers of public comments during NRC's meetings across the U.S. branded "Nuclear Waste Confidence" a confidence game (see photo, above). (A confidence game is defined as any swindle or trick in which the swindler, after gaining the confidence and trust of the victim, robs, defrauds, deceives, or otherwise cheats them.)

As the environmental coalition's legal counsel argued in their Initial Reply Brief, NRC's Continued Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel Rule and GEIS would preclude environmental intervenors from raising irradiated nuclear fuel contentions in any future interventions against proposed new reactor combined construction and operations license applications (COLAs), as well as old reactor license extension proceedings. In fact, the coalition seeks to challenge radioactive waste generation in current licensing proceedings.

Beyond Nuclear, which is honored and privileged to be a part of the coalition's legal appeal, is challenging the 20-year license extensions at Davis-Besse, OH and Fermi Unit 2, MI on the Lake Erie shoreline, as well as the COLA at the proposed new Fermi Unit 3 in MI. Beyond Nuclear is represented in those three proceedings by attorney Terry Lodge of Toledo, OH. Other groups Beyond Nuclear formally entered into coalition with to legally challenge those licenses include: Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination; Citizens Environment Alliance of Southwestern Ontario; Don't Waste MI; Ohio Green Party; and Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. Additional groups Beyond Nuclear works with in those three particular fights also include: Alliance to Halt Fermi 3; Citizens Resistance at Fermi 2; and Sierra Club Ohio Chapter Nuclear-Free Committee.

The other environmental groups involved in the coalition's legal appeal before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals include: Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC); Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL); Missouri Coalition for the Environment; New England Coalition; Nuclear Information & Resource Service (NIRS); Riverkeeper, Inc.; San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace; and Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Inc. (SACE). Thus, besides Beyond Nuclear's three licensing proceedings, a large number of additional reactor licensing proceedings are comprehended by this appeals lawsuit.

Beyond Nuclear et al.'s legal counsel, Diane Curran, is from the law firm of Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, LLP of Washington, D.C. Beyond Nuclear et al.'s legal counsel, Mindy Goldstein, is from the Turner Environmental Law Clinic in Atlanta, GA.

As the name of the appeal, New York II, implies, the environmental coalition is allied with a coalition of states, and an Indian tribe, in challenging NRC's Continued Storage Rule and GEIS. The states include New York, Connecticut, and Vermont; the Native American nation is the Praire Island Indian Community of Minnesota.

Oral arguments for New York II have not yet been scheduled, but are expected to take place in early 2016.

A favorable ruling for the coalition of environmental groups, state governments, and Prairie Island Indian Community would represent a serious blow to proposed new reactor licenses, and old reactor license extensions, such as the ones Beyond Nuclear has been fighting on the Lake Erie shoreline for many long years now.

Unprecedented liquid high-level radioactive waste shipments delayed by congressional demand for security assessment

The Peace Bridge at Buffalo, NY, the route by which unprecented shipments of liquid high-level radioactive waste are most likely expected to rollAs reported by WKBW/ABC-Buffalo, NY, unprecedented shipments, by truck, of liquid high-level radioactive waste, from Chalk River, Ontario, Canada to Savannah River Site (SRS), South Carolina, U.S.A., could be postponed.

The U.S. Department of Energy wants to import the liquid high-level radioactive wastes, for the revenue it would be paid by Canadian nuclear agencies. DOE also hopes to keep its reprocessing capabilities on life-support at SRS. For these reasons, it has sought radioactive wastes not only from Canada, but also from other countries (such as Germany), to import.

The delay is due to:

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives approved a bill that would require the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide a complete threat assessment the transportation of chemical, biological, nuclear, and radiological materials through U.S. land borders and within the United States.

The bill was sponsored by U.S. Representative Brian Higgins (D-NY). Companion legislation is expected to clear the U.S. Senate, and the companion bills to be enacted into law with President Obama's signature.

The article quotes Congressman Higgins:

"Terrorists and militant groups have expressed an interest in using highly dangerous weapons, especially those utilizing chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear, known as CBRN agents or materials,” said Higgins. “This bill gives federal agencies the information they need to make decisions and develop policies that are informed by the terrorism threat picture.”

DOE racing to "test" Deep Borehole Disposal of highly radioactive wastes

As revealed at a two-day long meeting of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) on Oct. 21 & 22, 2015 in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is racing to begin "testing" the concept of Deep Borehole Disposal of highly radioactive wastes, even though most people -- including those whose communities could be targeted to "host" such facilities -- have not even heard about it yet.

Links to the agenda, NWTRB press release, numerous presentations, and additional materials are now posted at the NWTRB website.

Also, a transcript is supposed to be posted, but it has not been yet. (It is unclear if a video recording of the Webcast will be made available, in addition, or whether that was only viewable in real time.)

By "Deep Borehole Disposal," the DOE proponents are referring to the concept of drilling a relatively small diameter hole, 3 to 5 kilometers (1.9 to 3.1 miles) straight down into the Earth's crust, in order to insert radioactive waste containers in the bottom. A common figure discussed at the meeting was 40 containers of radioactive waste, stacked one on top of the other, in the bottom of each Deep Borehole. A field of Deep Boreholes -- enough to accommodate all the radioactive waste to be buried -- would be drilled in close proximity to each other, in order to economize on the very expensive drilling equipment and skilled personnel required. The Deep Boreholes would then likely (but not for sure -- this hasn't been decided yet) be back-filled with sealant materials, yet to be designed/determined.

While most of the explicit discussion revolved around the potential to bury radioactive cesium and strontium capsules (themselves highly radioactive and long-lasting -- Cs-137 and Sr-90 remain hazardous for around 300 to 600 years, as but two examples), the clear implication is that other categories of radioactive wastes, including irradiated nuclear fuel, could also be disposed of this way.

DOE has not only solid irradiated nuclear fuel, but also post-reprocessing high-level radioactive waste, as well as other categories of highly radioactive waste, under its own jurisdiction (from the nuclear weapons complex, research reactors, etc.), to be dealt with. Even disposing of weapons-grade plutonium in Deep Borehole Disposal was discussed.

In addition, DOE is still being looked to at this time as the agency responsible for carrying out commercial nuclear power irradiated nuclear fuel disposal, as well as commercial Greater Than Class C (GTCC) "low-level" radioactive waste disposal (GTCC is considered as radioactively hazardous as high-level radioactive waste, and is in line for deep geologic disposal).

Since all of the categories of radioactive waste lack ultimate disposal sites, it is fair to be concerned that DOE could be considering Deep Borehole Disposal as an option for one or more of those wastes streams.

Such Deep Borehole Disposal could take place on-site, where the radioactive wastes were generated in the first place, or at unspecified "remote locations."

While DOE hastened to say that the initial testing would not involve radioactive materials, DOE spokesmen did admit that a suitable site, initially only involved in non-radioactive testing, could then proceed to become an actual Deep Borehole Disposal radioactive waste dump.

As with past proposed DOE high-level radioactive waste dumps, like at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, or centralized interim storage (de facto permanent parking lot dumps), targeted sites for Deep Borehole Disposal could well include Native American lands and reservations, already badly contaminated DOE nuclear weapons complex facilities, and/or nuclear power plant sites themselves.

This is most disconcerting, especially considering DOE's rush to begin "testing" this largely to entirely unknown (to the public anyway) Deep Borehole Disposal concept. The two-day NWTRB meeting revealed clearly that many, even basic questions and concerns about the risks of Deep Borehole Disposal, have not yet been asked, let alone addressed.

As Beverly Fernandez of Stop the Great Lakes Nuclear Dump put it at the Oct. 6, 2015 Toronto town hall meeting on Ontario Power Generation's proposal to bury radioactive wastes on the Great Lakes shoreline at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, Ontario, assurances made that so-called "deep geologic repositories" (DGR) at Asse II and Morsleben in Germany, and the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) in New Mexico, proved false. All three DGRs have leaked hazardous radioactivity into the environment. So DGR proponents' "trust us, we're experts" line has worn quite thin.

Note that the so-called "Deep" Geologic Repository at Bruce would be only 680 meters (2,230 feet) below ground. Significantly, if OPG's on-site radioactive waste "DGR" disposal is allowed to happen, it could set a precedent for Deep Borehole Disposal of radioactive wastes on-site at reactors to follow, as well.

New Canadian government could derail plans for nuclear waste dump near Lake Huron

The targeted location where the DGR would be built at OPG's Bruce NGS on the Lake Huron shore in Kincardine, ONAs reported by Michigan Radio and the AP, the Liberal Party's decisive election victory on Oct. 19th gives hope to opponents of Ontario Power Generation's proposed Deep Geologic Repository for burying radioactive waste on the Great Lakes shore at Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, Ontario (see photo, left). They hope Prime Minister Trudeau will nip the DUD in the bud (DUD, short for Deep Underground Dump, is the abbreviation coined by David Martin of Greenpeace Canada for the insane scheme). More.