Recent progress in siting low-level waste disposal facilities in the Southwestern Compact and the Central Interstate Compact
- Ecology, Inc., Lincoln, NE (United States)
- Ecology, Inc., Rocklin, CA (United States)
US Ecology is the private contractor selected to develop and operate low-level waste disposal facilities in the Southwestern and the Central Interstate Compacts. These initiatives have been proceeding for almost a decade in somewhat different regulatory and political climates. This paper chronicles recent events in both projects. In both cases there is reason for continued optimism that low-level waste facilities to serve the needs of waste generators in these two compacts will soon be a reality. When the California Department of Health Services issued a license for the proposed Ward Valley LLRW disposal facility on September 16, 1993, it represented a significant step in implementation of a new generation of regional LLRW disposal facilities. While limited scope land transfer hearings were on the horizon, project beneficiaries were confident that the disposal site would be operational by 1995. Since then, however, political initiatives championed by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) have clouded the federal land transfer process and left the commencement date of operations indeterminant. Since 1993, the biomedical community, waste generators most affected by delays, have been petitioning the current administration to emphasize the need for a timely solution. These efforts are aimed at Clinton administration officials responsible for current delays, who apparently have not recognized the importance of the Ward Valley facility to California`s economy, nor the national ramifications of their delaying actions. The current status of challenges to the Ward Valley license and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) documentation is also provided. The presentation also discusses the recently completed National Academy of Science evaluation of reports critical of the Ward Valley development process.
- Research Organization:
- Electric Power Research Inst. (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA (United States); Williams (Paul) and Associates, Medina, OH (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 229859
- Report Number(s):
- EPRI-TR-105569; CONF-950718-; TRN: 96:002003-0049
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Electric Power Research Institute low-level waste conference, Orlando, FL (United States), 10-12 Jul 1995; Other Information: PBD: Nov 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of 1995 EPRI international low-level waste conference. Proceedings; PB: 600 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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