And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Source: http://www.sltrib.com/1999/jun/06161999/utah/1578.htm ==================================================== Nuclear Waste, Tailings Occupy Western Governors BY DAN HARRIE THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson vowed Tuesday to investigate the safety hazards of capping in place a massive uranium tailings pile on the banks of the Colorado River near Moab. "I will send a team of DOE people out there right away," Richardson said during a public session of the Western Governors' Association, meeting here for its annual conference. "If it is a hazard, it may need to be cleaned up," Richardson said in a later interview. "We want to resolve the problem . . . Somebody should clean it up." Richardson said he would dispatch a team of his personal advisers to investigate the 130-acre pile containing 10.5 million tons of radioactive dirt, and examine the potential safety and environmental hazards posed by plans to cap the uranium where it sits. An alternate plan to move the tailings for a disposal site several miles from the river is being pushed by Utah elected officials, environmentalists and several members of Congress. Moving the material would cost substantially more than capping it in place. The Department of Energy chief's commitment came after he was pressed by Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, who warned of "catastrophic" consequences if the tailings were to contaminate the Colorado River, an important source of drinking water for 20 million people in California and Arizona. Leavitt, along with other Utah elected leaders, have urged the Energy Department to take control of the site from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which now oversees it. The NRC's plan for the closed Atlas Mining site is to cap the materials in place. The governor said the decision appears to be based primarily on cost -- it is cheaper to build a protective cap over the uranium tailings than to transport and dispose of them elsewhere. Denver-based Atlas Corp., the bankrupt owner of the old uranium mill, set aside enough money to pay most of capping costs. If a decision is made to move the tailings, the additional funds would have to come from Congress. Leavitt added it is crucial the Energy Department take over because "these are the best people in the world at cleaning up these sites." The agency has cleaned up similar sites all over the West. He called Richardson's commitment "very good news." Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, is proposing an appropriation to shift the oversight from the NRC to the DOE, and that transfer also is endorsed by other Utah officials. A similar measure has been introduced by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. Richardson said the Atlas tailings site already was on his radar screen prior to the meeting with Western Governors on Tuesday. He said he previously had met with Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, about the problem. Leavitt called the reasons behind the assignment of the tailings problem to NRC a "mystery." Richardson, too, was at a loss to explain the NRC oversight. "We should find out why," he said. "But we should focus on correcting the problem." Their review of the history will show DOE was given the job of cleaning up abandoned uranium mills that had been used to produce weapons-grade material for nuclear bombs during the Cold War. The Atlas mill was not included on the list because it had a viable owner at the time and still was licensed to operate. Thus it remained under the control of the NRC, which regulates all businesses handling nuclear materials. NRC control now creates a problem because the agency has no experience cleaning up sites and no legal authority to do the work. Its legal mandate is to have the owners handle the cleanup. The Energy secretary said he did not know whether a transfer of authority, should it be deemed necessary, would require legislation. Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne suggested that the Clinton administration could accomplish the change rapidly and without the fuss of congressional wrangling by "invoking the Antiquities Act." The comment was a jab at President Clinton's designation in September of 1996 of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. Several Western governors and staffers, still angered by what they consider a unilateral power move, applauded and cheered. Richardson did not respond. But the former New Mexico congressman and one-time United Nations ambassador displayed his own wit in opening remarks, when he referred to the recent controversy raging in Washington about lax Energy Department security that apparently permitted China to steal U.S. nuclear secrets. "I'm delighted not to be talking to you about Chinese spies," Richardson told governors. His appearance in Wyoming came just one day after release of a report from a presidential advisory panel that thumped the Energy Department for displaying "organizational disarray, managerial neglect and a culture of arrogance." However, the report commended Richardson's recent initiatives to tighten security at DOE facilities and nuclear labs. Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
