
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 18, 1993                   TAG: 9307180175
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                LENGTH: Medium

HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE NUCLEAR FUEL MAY STAY AT SHIPYARD FOR YEARS

The Navy has told city officials that Newport News Shipbuilding might have to store a load of spent nuclear fuel for up to three years.

"It's not a short-term, couple-of-months situation," Assistant City Manager Randy Hildebrandt said. "We expect it will be two to three years before they can find a permanent solution."

Navy officials gave the city the news at a meeting Thursday in Northern Virginia, Hildebrandt said.

Two 114-ton casks of the highly radioactive fuel were en route from the shipyard to Idaho in June when a federal judge barred the Navy from storing its casks in that state until an environmental impact statement is completed.

The train carrying the nuclear waste returned to Newport News Shipbuilding. The spent nuclear fuel came from the USS Enterprise, which is being refueled and overhauled at the shipyard.

Rep. Robert Scott, D-Newport News, said an Energy Department official who testified before a congressional subcommittee Thursday gave him the impression that the shipyard would not have to store the nuclear waste for several years.

"The impression we were given would be inconsistent with anything close to three years," Scott said of the testimony by Thomas Grumbly, assistant secretary of environmental restoration and waste management.

Scott said Grumbly had promised a decision by July 25 on whether the government will appeal the Idaho court decision in order to allow the shipyard to resume the spent fuel shipments.

Jack Schnaedter, a spokesman for the shipyard, said a delay of up to three years could affect the yard's plans to deactivate the USS Long Beach, a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser. The Navy said the Long Beach is scheduled to arrive at the yard next year.

Adm. Bruce DeMars, head of the Navy's nuclear program, said the waste storage problem would delay work on many of the 50 submarines and surface ships scheduled for refueling or decommissioning.

That would result in job losses at shipyards, including Newport News Shipbuilding and the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, DeMars said.

by CNB