The editorial headlined
“If it’s ‘hot,’ it’s not just trash” which appeared on January 22, 2002,
discussed matters of concern to the Southwestern Low-Level Radioactive
Waste Commission. The Commission is the governing body which represents
the states of Arizona, California, North Dakota, and South Dakota under
Public Law 100-712. The law requires the State of California to dispose
of radioactive waste from hospitals, universities, governmental agencies,
utilities and industry in the four states. A license was issued in 1993
(and is still in effect) for a disposal facility in Ward Valley, but it
was never constructed not because of concerns about safety but because
of political issues. The editorial points out that waste is now being
shipped to facilities in Utah and South Carolina and asks “Why not keep
using them?” The answer lies in the fact that the South Carolina facility
is phasing out of accepting waste from states outside of its own compact
members and will no longer take waste from the Southwestern region after
2008, and that the State of Utah is not likely to want to be known as
the only state in the nation where low-level waste can go. It was precisely
that concern that caused the States of Nevada, Washington, and South Carolina
to close their facilities two decades ago. Unless California acts to open
a disposal facility it, and its compact partners, may not have any option
but to store waste at the hundreds of places where it is generated. Sincerely, Dana K. Mount, Chairman Southwestern Low Level Radioactive Waste Commission Bismarck, North Dakota 58506-55201200 Missouri Avenue Phone: 701-328-5202 |