🚀 go-pugleaf

Originally from: "Mike Ewall"
Original dated: Mar 22 '96, 06:11

Nuclear Information & Resource Service
Michael Mariotte <nirsnet@igc.apc.org>


S. 1956, a new bill to get the proposed Ward Valley radioactive waste
dump opened as soon as possible, will be considered by the Senate
Energy Committee Wed, March 13. Info attached.


-------------- Enclosure number 1 ----------------
Nuclear Information & Resource Service 1424 16th St. NW

Suite 404 Washington, DC 20036; (202)328-0002,
nirsnet@igc.apc.org

 ALERT/ ACTION/ ALERT/ ACTION/ ALERT



STOP THE WARD VALLEY NUCLEAR DUMP

US SENATE ENERGY COMMITTEE TO VOTE ON

S.1596, WARD VALLEY LAND TRANSFER BILL



CALLS TO US SENATORS NEEDED

SUPPORT SENATOR BOXER's OPPOSITION

LETTERS NEEDED TO CLINTON URGING VETO



Senators Murkowski (R,AK) and Johnston (D,LA) have introduced
S.1596 to transfer Ward Valley, Calif. from the US Dept. of
Interior to the Calif. Dept. of Health Services to bury
radioactive waste primarily from the nuclear power industry. It
is scheduled for "mark up" and vote by Senate Energy Committee
Weds 3/13/96. HR 2334 is a similar House bill.



The bills appear designed to exempt the transfer from national
environmental and land management laws and bypass the democratic
right of judicial review.



Because the site is on federal Bureau of Land Management land,
it is a federal issue, despite the claim that states are
responsible for new dumps. The Interior Dept. must comply with
numerous federal laws including National Environmental Policy
Act,  Federal Land Management Policy Act, Endangered Species Act
and consult and confer with the leaders of the Native American
nations in the region.



US Department of Interior ordered tests at Ward Valley because a
nearly identical desert waste dump at Beatty, Nevada was
discovered to be leaking. Radioactivity has migrated offsite (to
at least 10 feet of the water table!) much faster than expected.
The same company, US Ecology, would dump at Ward Valley.



US Ecology now admits to dumping liquid waste at Beatty but
promises not to do that at Ward Valley. It was a covered-up,
illegal, routine operation and even if they limit dumping of
liquids at Ward Valley to the 1% of volume allowed, there's
enough rainfall at the site to cause as much or more radioactive
migration from Ward Valley.



The National Academy of Sciences study of Ward Valley did not
give the site a "clean bill of health" as Senator Murkowski
claims. Page 2 of the report states that the panel "did not take
any position on the overall suitability of the Ward Valley site
for LLRW [radioactive waste] disposal facility" and that
"...this evaluation...does not constitute approval ...of the
site."



The nuclear power industry generates the majority of the
radioactivity needing a dump. Long-lasting, intensely
radioactive wastes from the including plutonium, cesium,
strontium, and iodines will be buried in soil trenches just 18
miles from the Colorado River. Medical wastes are short-lived
and do not need a reactor dump to be managed responsibly. Ex:
Iodine-129 from nuclear reactors is hazardous for over 160
MILLION YEARS. Iodine-131 used for thyroid imaging and therapy
is hazardous for just 80 DAYS.



California Governor Wilson, a strong dump proponent, has been
responsible for much of the delay at Ward Valley. He sought to
avoid independent analysis and public input on the project,
reneged on a commitment to hold adjudicatory hearings and
withdrew from negotiations with Interior on conditions for a
transfer. Now he has requested Congress to take swift action.



S. 1596:        Overrides US Interior Department commitment to carry
out scientific tests that could further disqualify the site for
use as a radioactive dump. It forces the transfer despite
already existing scientific evidence that waste could
contaminate the water supply.



                Further endangers one of the most robust portions of the
population of  threatened desert tortoise species by placing a
radioactive dump in prime critical habitat.



                Violates US responsibilities to Native American nations and
threatens the cultural, financial, environmental and public
health of Native American and other communities in the region.
The 5 Colorado Native Nations have formed an alliance to prevent
the radioactive dump.



                Is corporate welfare for nuclear power---Taxpayers, residents
will pay and suffer from accidents and leaks.



                Threatens contamination of the Colorado River, water-supply
for the Southwestern US and Northwestern Mexico, with plutonium
and other radioactive elements. No amount is safe and several
pathways for leakage have been identified, most, if not all, via
Native American land.



Actions Needed:

Contact Your SENATORS :

        To Vote NO on S.1596 and

        Support Senator Boxer's oppostion/filibuster.

then PRESIDENT CLINTON:

        To VETO S.1596/HR 2334 if passed.

then Your US Congressperson :

        To Vote NO on H.R. 2334.

And ALERT Your Networks to make contact!

US SENATE/HOUSE switchboard: 202-225-3121 or 224-3121

WHITE HOUSE: 202-456-6797; fax 202-456-2883;

                        e-mail address: president@whitehouse.gov

Nuclear Information & Resource Service 1424 16th St. NW

Suite 404 Washington, DC 20036 (202)328-0002 nirsnet@igc.apc.org

 ALERT/ ACTION/ ALERT/ ACTION/ ALERT



STOP THE NUCLEAR WASTE TRAINS AND TRUCKS

US SENATE ENERGY COMMITTEE TO VOTE ON S 1271 -- HIGH-LEVEL
NUCLEAR WASTE BILL



CALLS TO SENATORS NEEDED

LETTERS NEEDED TO CLINTON URGING VETO



3/10/96 -- Wednesday 3/13 the Senate Energy Committee acts on S
1271 -- in a new form -- now the Murkowski--Craig "Nuclear Waste
Policy Act of 1996." After the bill leaves the Energy Committee
it joins the list of bills waiting to go to the Senate floor.
The Clinton Administration needs support for their stated
opposition to S 1271. Urge your Senators to support Senator
Bryan of Nevada in his pledge to filibuster S 1271. Help him
stop the nuclear trucks and trains before they reach your state.
The new bill also gives a green light to reprocessing, a failed
technology that makes a bad problem worse!!!



Background: S-1271 authorizes a new nuclear dump (so-called
"interim" storage) for the nation's high-level waste. 95% of all
the radioactivity of the Nuclear Age is in the fuel from
commercial nuclear reactors. This waste would be shipped across
the nation -- from the reactors primarily east of the
Mississippi, thousands of miles, through 43 states to a cement
pad -- nothing more than a parking lot in one of the most
seismicly active areas of Nevada, part of  Western Shoshone
Lands. Accidents happen every day -- there have been 7 major
rail accidents in the news in the past month, 5 of these were on
routes that are projected as likely high-level nuclear waste
routes.



This parking lot takes us no closer to a long term plan for how
to live with this lethal material. In fact the so-called
"interim storage" site would be identical to the dry cask
storage installations that are currently being installed at
reactor sites. These have been demonstrated substandard in
design and fabrication, shown to contribute to fuel degradation
and over all are a technology rated for decades, not millennia.
The only "benefit" of this new plan is that the nuclear
utilities get to transfer the title--ownership--and liability of
this deadly waste to you and me, the taxpayer. Meanwhile the
word is that the waste "problem is solved." The reactors go on
generating MORE of this deadly waste. As a group, today's
reactors have to date generated less than half of the total
high-level waste that may be produced if they operate until the
end of their current license period.



Your Senators need to hear from you. Right now. All but 15
Senators are saying they have 'no position,' or actively support
the bill.  CALL TODAY (202)224-3121.   Write President Clinton:
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW,  Washington, DC 20500. Put "Office of
Chief of Staff" on envelope--handwritten letters, even short,
are the best.  Questions? Call NIRS (202)328-0002.