Avert costly clean-up efforts and public heath hazards

http://kcpw.org/blog/local-news/2009-10-15/radiation-control-board-vote-delays-depleted-uranium-shipments-for-a-year/

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Radiation Control Board Vote Delays Depleted Uranium Shipments for a Year
10.15.2009 by Elizabeth Ziegler
(KCPW News) Concerns about the amount of depleted uranium coming into Utah prompted the state Radiation Control Board to vote 7-to-1 this week to amend EnergySolutions’ license. It will require the company to complete a performance review of its Tooele County storage facility before taking more depleted uranium, effectively delaying the next shipment for at least a year. Board Member Dr. Joseph Miner, director of the Utah County Health Department, says this could avert costly clean-up efforts and public heath hazards later on.
“It’s a whole lot better to feel assured that it’s being done right now, than to go through many, many, many millions of dollars of expense to redo it or to correct what’s been done wrong, if it’s not being done correctly now,” Miner says. “We’re not convinced it’s being done correctly now. No one is, actually.”
Depleted uranium is officially classified as a low-level waste, although the waste becomes more radioactive as it decays. In light of this, the Radiation Control Board asked EnergySolutions to prove it can safely store this type of waste for the next 10,000 to one million years.
EnergySolutions has 30 days to object to the board’s action. Spokesman Mark Walker released a prepared statement.
“Yesterday’s vote by the Radiation Control Board contradicted the board’s action in September when it voted 8 to 3 to reject a moratorium on the disposal of DU,” Walker says. “The board correctly refused to impose a moratorium last month. But took action [on Tuesday] that is the equivalent to a moratorium, an action that is inconsistent with state law.”
The company already stores depleted uranium at its Utah facility. The Department of Energy recently awarded EnergySolutions a contract to store more than 10,000 tons of depleted uranium from a defunct nuclear weapons site in South Carolina.