THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 19, 1994 TAG: 9407200578
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
No one seems to want to store spent nuclear fuel from Navy ships at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth.
Not the Navy. Not the Sierra Club. Not Portsmouth's government. And not the residents who spoke at a Monday afternoon public hearing conducted by the Navy and the U.S. Department of Energy at Portsmouth's Willett Hall.
Only the Energy Department remained noncommittal about where it should store spent fuel from refueled and deactivated nuclear-powered Navy warships.
And there's even doubt about the Energy Department's willingness to place it here.
``I don't think there's a snowball's chance on Virginia Beach in August that there's a person in DOE that's seriously considering storing this nuclear waste in the Portsmouth-Norfolk area,'' said Joseph R. Egan, an attorney representing the operators of 19 foreign nuclear reactors whose fuel was provided by the U.S. government.
Yet the shipyard is being formally considered by the Energy Department and the Navy as a medium-term storage location for the Navy's spent nuclear fuel.
Under several of 15 possible scenarios being considered, up to 27 tons of spent fuel generated at the shipyard and at Newport News Shipbuilding during the next 40 years could wind up being stored at the Portsmouth yard. The options are laid out in a draft environmental impact statement released by the Energy Department in June.
The waste, considered highly radioactive, would be stored at the yard until the Energy Department develops a permanent stor-age facility, such as the one being considered for Nevada's Yucca Mountain.
The Navy had been sending its spent fuel to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The state of Idaho won a suit to stop shipments of nuclear waste to the facility..
``Navy and DOE were obliged by the court to consider all other reasonable alternatives'' to storing the waste in Idaho, said Richard A. Guida, associate director of the Navy's nuclear propulsion program.
As for Norfolk Naval Shipyard? ``The fact that we were obliged to look at it does not mean we're going to pick it,'' Guida said.
Indeed, he added, the Navy would rather send the waste to Idaho and not store it in Portsmouth. In that the Navy's not alone.
``We most vehemently don't support any consideration of Norfolk Naval Shipyard for the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel,'' said Johnny M. Clemons, vice mayor of Portsmouth. ``Even with a superb safety record, this type of material should not be stored in an area as densely populated as ours.''
The Sierra Club's Robert Deegan warned that, despite the Navy's good safety record, an accident could occur if it becomes overconfident.
Rafiq Zaidi, a minister with the Nation of Islam, likened the possibility of medium-term storage in Portsmouth to environmental racism. Most of the population near the yard is African-American, he said. ``Any release in this area would be a disaster to the African-American community,'' Zaidi said.
About 50 people attended the hearing. Guida, shipyard commander Rear Adm. Jim Taylor and an Energy Department official tried to reassure them that the fuel could be safely stored at the shipyard.
Another public hearing was held Monday evening in Newport News. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
PUBLIC INPUT
TO COMMENT: You may comment on the possible storage of spent
nuclear fuel at Norfolk Naval Shipyard by calling (800) 682-5583.
IMPACT STATEMENT: Copies of the environmental impact statement
are available at Portsmouth Public Library, Chesapeake Central
Library, Newport News Public Library-Grissom Branch, Kirn Library,
Hampton Public Library and Virginia Beach Central Library. by CNB