Public Hearing Request and Public Comments about draft Groundwater Discharge Permit (DP-1481) for URENCO USA

Beyond Nuclear is honored and privileged to join a coalition (Alliance for Environmental Strategies, Beyond Nuclear, Citizen Action New Mexico, Citizens for Alternative to Radioactive Dumping, Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety, Mountain View Community Action, Nuclear Free World Committee of the Dallas Peace and Justice Center, Nuclear Watch New Mexico, Partnership for Earth Spirituality, We the Fourth,
Nona Lee Gregg, Jana Gunnell, MD, MPH, and Susan and Dario Rodriguez, in requesting a public hearing from, and providing comments to, the Groundwater Quality Bureau of the New Mexico Environment Department, regarding the draft Groundwater Discharge Permit (DP-1481) for URENCO USA.

See the letter here.

URENCO is short for Uranium Enrichment Corporation of America. URENCO operates a uranium enrichment facility in Eunice, New Mexico.

Just a couple-three miles from URENCO is the Waste Control Specialists (WCS), LLC national so-called "low-level" radioactive waste dump in Andrews County, Texas. WCS has now applied to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a license to build and operate a consolidated interim storage facility (CISF) for 40,000 metric tons of highly radioactive commercial irradiated nuclear fuel.

39 miles from WCS, midway between Hobbs and Carlsbad, NM, the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance and Holtec International have likewise proposed a CISF, only for 173,600 MT of highly radioactive waste.

Also in southeastern NM is the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the permanent dump for plutonium and other transuranic wastes from the nuclear weapons complex.

This is not even a complete list of the nuclear abuses heaped on NM (such as uranium mining in the northwest, on or near the Navajo/Diné reservation, and numerous Pueblo Indian reservations; or fallout from the Trinity atomic blast of July 16, 1945; etc.). But the environmental injustice, the radioactive racism (considering that many downwind and downstream communities are low income and/or people of color, including Hispanic Americans and Native Americans), is obvious.

draft Groundwater Discharge Permit (DP-1481) for URENCO USA

How should we store irradiated nuclear fuel?

As reported by WORT, 89.9 FM Community Radio in Madison, WI. The program "8 O'clock Buzz" hosted Beyond Nuclear's radioactive waste specialist, Kevin Kamps:

Controversy continues over centralized storage of “spent” nuclear fuel or hardened on-site storage. Kevin Kamps from “Beyond Nuclear” talks about the potential issues related to transportation of these materials on our highways, rails, and water to centralized “interim” storage facilities.

NRC DEIS public comment period re: Holtec CISF in NM underway

See the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) press release, here.

NRC has granted only 60 days for public comment, as compared to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) 199 days for the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada dump -- targeted at Western Shoshone land -- at the same Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) stage in 1999 to 2000. This makes no sense, as Holtec's Consolidated Interim Storage Facility (CISF) proposal is actually 2.5 times larger than Yucca, 173,600 metric tons of irradiated nuclear fuel versus 70,000 (and thus, 2.5 larger transport volume risks).

In addition, NRC has scheduled only five public comment meetings, exclusively in New Mexico. But DOE held 24 public comment meetings, not just in Nevada, but in a dozen more states along transport routes nationwide.

Please contact your U.S. Representative, and both your U.S. Senators. Urge them to demand that NRC hold a public comment meeting in your congressional district/state. Also urge that they demand NRC extend the public comment period to 199 days. You can phone your Congress Members' D.C. offices via the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

Learn more about the environmental injustice of the proposed CISFs at our Centralized Storage website section.

Update on March 12, 2020 by admin

See the full NRC DEIS linked here. It is entitled NUREG-2237 DFC, "Environmental Impact Statement for the (sic) Holtec International's License Application for a Consolidated Interim Storage Facility for Spent Nuclear Fuel and High Level Waste."

It is 488 pages long.

Its ML# is ML20069G420. (That is how to find it on NRC's Byzantine ADAMS database.)

The NRC DEIS executive summary is 40 pages long. It is linked here.

Beyond Nuclear on RT, re: new Greenpeace report about Fukushima as the 2020 Summer Olympics approach

Beyond Nuclear's radioactive waste specialist appeared on RT's "The News with Rick Sanchez."

The Fukushima coverage begins at the 4 minute 45 second mark, and ends at the 11 minute 15 second mark.

Much of the discussion revolves around a new report by Greenpeace International, entitled "Radioactivity on the Move 2020: Recontamination and Weather-related Effects in Fukushima."

Here is the show's write up:

Rick Sanchez: Japan accused of lying about radiation

High levels of radiation in the area around Fukushima, Japan have been discovered at locations intended for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Is the international sporting event in danger? RT America’s Michele Greenstein explains the lasting impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Then Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist at Beyond Nuclear, joins Rick Sanchez to share his expertise.

Dark money dominated Ohio’s nuclear subsidy saga

As reported by Kathiann M. Kowalski of Midwest Energy News.