Nebraska Governor Ben Nelson's
LLRW Summit
GOVERNOR NELSON'S SUMMIT SUMMARY
The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980, as amended, was intended to create an effective, efficient, and economical policy for managing the low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) produced in the United States. Ten years ago, some folks were questioning whether that policy was economically sound. At that time those questioning the sanity of the policy were pretty much dismissed out of hand. This year, however, a widespread debate has developed across the nation with regard to the effectiveness and economic viability of the LLRW Policy Act. Those currently questioning the policy include some representatives of nuclear power utilities, some representatives of the nuclear waste disposal industry, and representatives of various compacts, as well as the state officials and the LLRW policy critics of ten years ago. Discussions of options and alternatives to the 1980 Policy Act now abound.
Governor Ben Nelson held a LLRW Summit August 28, 1997, to discuss options and alternatives to the current LLRW policy. Following are links to presentations by a number of very knowledgeable people at that LLRW Summit. [All of the presentations have been slightly edited fromm the transcript of the Summit for ease of reading.] As you read these presentations, one caveat should be kept in mind: The LLRW Policy Act is the current law of the land, and until that law is changed it sets the rules of the game.
Charles Jones, former alternate Commissioner for Kansas, Central
Compact and Creator of the Kansas Environmental Almanac website
Thor Strong, Associate Commissioner of Michigan's LLRW Authority
Professor Clark Bullard, Illinois Commissioner, Central Midwest LLRW
Compact and Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President Institute for Energy and Environmental Research
Gary Thompson, Esq., Member Board of Directors, Nebraska Public Power District
Professor Dennis Coates, University of Maryland-Baltimore County
Department of Economics
Gene Crump, Executive Director, Central Interstate LLRW Compact
Return to Quick Links
Informative Web Sites
The State of Nevada's
Nuclear Waste Project Office will provide the
most reliable information on irradiated fuel rod disposal and
transportation.
Nevada's Nuclear Waste Project Office has a comprehensive report on spent fuel and high-level waste transportation:
"The Transportation of Spent Fuel and High Level Radioactive Waste"
The Ohio LLRW Authority Office closed
as of September 30, 1997. The Midwest Compact passed a
resolution ceasing development of a LLRW disposal site in Ohio.
That resolution states, in pertinent part: "Resolved, The
Commission determines that development activities for a
regional disposal facility for low-level radioactive waste
should immediately and indefinitely cease." Here's a link
to the full text of the
Resolution. For background on the Midwest Compact/Ohio
situation, read the Midwest Compact Executive Director Gregg
Larson's
Memo.
Here's a link to News Articles about the Pennsylvania LLRW Project.
ACURI National Siting is a nuclear industry web site.
However, it does have a good overview of what's happening with
the various LLRW siting processes across the nation.
Return to Quick Links
Here is a paper well worth reading,
Managing The Risks of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal.
The focus of the paper, as descirbed in its abstract is,
"The disposal of low-level radioactive waste entails risks not
common to most commodities. This manifests several problems in
the potential market for waste disposal services. This paper
identifies two specific risks, waste volume reduction and
technology performance uncertainty, and suggests how they can be
accounted for within an economic model of the disposal problem."
Sociological Issues
Rocky Mountain Social Science [senior scientists: Richard S. Krannich and Ronald L. Little] prepared a Sociocultural Assessment for the Boyd County Local Monitoring Committee. That assessment was issued in July, 1992.
US Ecology conducted an expedited cursory reviewof that Sociocultural Assessment at the request of the Central Interstate LLRW Compact Commission (CIC). That cursory document is dated September 3, 1992.
It is of noted that the extent of attention given to the Boyd County Sociocultural Assessment by the CIC and US Ecology was limited to the "expedited cursory review."
If you are interested in socioeconomic/sociocultural aspects of LLRW
siting, you may want to read Sociocultural Analysis and the Nebraska LLRW Project
There are two papers
[
The Nebraska Experience: Could It Have Been Successful?
and
Pulp Fiction -- the Volunteer Concept], presented at Department of
Energy LLRW Conferences, which you may find of interest.
Louisiana Energy Service * Uranium Enrichment
For those of you with an interest in Environmental Justice, on May 1, 1997, the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board
issued its
Final Initial Decision in regard to the Louisiana Energy Service's uranium enrichment
center planned to be located between the communities of Forest
Grove and Center Springs in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, on April 3, 1998, reversed some of the decisions of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, here's the Press Release on that, here's the actual NRC Decision. The end of April, 1998, Then on April 30, 1998, the NRC issued an Order granting LES's motion to withdraw its pending license application.
Here's a very interesting paper Interstate Compacts Can't Solve
Collective Bads Problems: The Case of LLRW. While I am
informed that it is under revision, it's a thought provoking
work well worthy of a read now.
Return to Quick Links
Central Interstate LLRW
Compact
For an example of a web site that does little more than take up space,
providing very little information, take a look at the
Central Interstate Compact's
Homepage.
For further information about the Central Interstate Compact (CIC) try LLRW Compact. There you will find the Commission's By-Laws -- something that you will not find on the CIC Homepage.
This
is the link to Legal Opinions by
the CIC's legal counsel in regard to the Host State's veto power over wastes imported or exported from the compact region.
[For some reason, you will not find these legal opinions on the
CIC's Homepage.] Click here for a
Discussion of the those legal opinions.
Here are links to get fact based overviews of a couple of pieces of litigation concerning LLRW issues.
Concerned Citizens v. Grams, is a Nebraska district court case.
New York v. United States, et al,
is a Federal court case. Here are links for those of you who would like to read
the actual Supreme Court Decision or
Syllabus in the New York v. United States case.
Return to Quick Links
Try this for a web site that is
rich in information about the health effects of low-level ionizing radiation,
and tons of other information.
The above web site is not unbaised. Whenever one deals with
controversial or complex issues it is difficult, if not impossible,
to find any source of information which is wholly unbaised. For
a link to another source for information on radiological health
issues, try
Validity of Internet Information. I would caution you to
be as skeptical of information found at that site as you would
be of information found at the previously noted site, or any
other site for that matter.