VLLW: "Very Low Level Radioactive Waste" = Very Large Lies, Very Long Lasting

The nuclear power industry and its lapdog regulator (Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC), even more toothless under Trump, has invented a new and deceptive name for nuclear power waste, calling it “Very Low Level,” or VLLW. 

The fact is that VLLW is not only Very Long-Lasting Waste, but also extremely dangerous to human health and the environment.

Despite the dangerous nature of VLLW, the NRC wants to 'authorize' regular landfill operators and hazardous waste site operators to dispose of radioactive waste even though they have no provisions to isolate nuclear waste! This would almost certainly result in nuclear waste leaks into our water, air, crops, and communities. We've stopped em before--We need YOU to help stop them again!

50 to 90% of the waste from decommissioning nuclear power reactors plus waste from operations could go to regular local trash landfills!!

ALL of the nuclear power waste except irradiated fuel could go to places without licenses for nuclear!

Individuals can send a letter to NRC and their congressmember by going to the LANDFILLS ALERT on the nirs website under ACTIONS then ALERTS.

The deadline for submitting public comments to NRC is July 20, 2020.

Update on July 16, 2020 by admin

Need more groups VLLW Action Needed: Sign-on by Thurs7-16 midnight Stop Nuclear Waste out of control to Landfills and more!

ACTION ALERT

Say NO to dumping nuclear waste at landfills and municipal waste sites!

July 15, 2020

Dear Friends,

This is one of the most unethical proposals ever put out by the NRC.

It’s not just an environmental justice violation, it is a Civil Rights outrage. (We all know where landfills and hazardous dumps get sited.)  

The proposal is also deceptive. NRC is calling a dramatic rule change a proposal “to expand the interpretation” of a rule. The NRC is also using the semantics of “VLLW” – “very low level waste” – to refer to any type of nuclear waste besides spent fuel. This includes intensely radioactive material/waste that will remain dangerous for literally centuries to come.

So PLEASE add your ORGANIZATION/ group name to the list of people who care about whether low-income and communities of color get poisoned generation-after-generation. Even with the best available technology, these dumps will emit radioactivity into the air, leach into the ground, and leak into groundwater and waterways..

The broader environmental and general public health issues here are also extremely serious.  Radioactive particulates – hazardous for decades and centuries – present a particularly grave danger to ecosystems, infants, children, adolescents and women. 

The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) has prepared Comments for groups to support. Please take a minute and sign-on by Thursday July 16, 2020.  Sign On By Thurs July 16th midnight on this Google Form 

https://forms.gle/bWMtmV2gLHfG6e2PA

Also consider submitting your own submission to the NRC at: VLLWTransferComments.Resource@nrc.gov. The final deadline is July 20, 2020.

Many thanks.

Michel Lee

Council on Intelligent Energy & Conservation Policy

Promoting Health and Sustainable Energy