Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 23, 1995 TAG: 9504250024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-7 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium
In an 5,000-page environmental impact statement released Thursday, the department instead recommended that all such highly radioactive waste be stored at a remote laboratory in Idaho.
``That's good news for the Navy and good news environmentally for Hampton Roads,'' said Robert Deegan of Virginia Beach, a nuclear-issues specialist with the Sierra Club.
An announcement last June that the shipyard was one of 15 sites nationwide under review as a long-term storage facility for nuclear waste created a storm of local protest and concern.
But the Portsmouth option never seemed to gain much momentum, and federal analysts realized that placing up to 27 tons of spent nuclear fuel rods and other contaminated material in a busy Navy port would not be a wise move.
``No one I ever talked to - not in the Navy, not in our community, not in Washington - ever said this was a good idea,'' said Marilee Hawkins, Portsmouth's director of environmental services.
Hawkins said she had not seen the report but that Navy officials in Portsmouth called her Thursday with the news. A copy of the report is being forwarded to Mayor Gloria Webb.
Fuel shipments from the Navy have been in limbo since a federal court barred further disposal of spent fuel rods at the Idaho Engineering Laboratory after state officials filed a lawsuit challenging the shipments. The court ordered the environmental impact review before shipments could be resumed.
The Navy was forced to temporarily store radioactive wastes from its nuclear fleet at its six maintenance yards, including the Portsmouth shipyard and Newport News Shipbuilding.
The report's recommendations are not final. They must undergo a monthlong public comment period, said Bradley P. Bugger, a Department of Energy spokesman.
Department officials said Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary is expected to make a final decision on the report recommendation by June 1 - unless Idaho or an environmental group tries to block the waste transfer through more court action.
Idaho Gov. Phil Batt said he was disappointed at the report's conclusions. He said he would try to dissuade O'Leary from accepting the recommendation. He is scheduled to meet with her next month.
Batt said the proposal is ``wrong not only for Idaho but for the nation.'' He said he is concerned that temporary storage will become permanent.
Batt agreed in January to accept eight shipments of Navy waste for temporary storage as a goodwill gesture. Those shipments came from Newport News Shipbuilding, which desperately needed storage space.
In exchange, Batt was promised that a permanent nuclear waste site would be located outside of his state. The Department of Energy is considering a dumping ground at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert.
by CNB