US to label nuclear waste as less dangerous to quicken cleanup

[babylonsister]

US to label nuclear waste as less dangerous to quicken cleanup
Energy department says labeling some waste as low-level at sites in Washington state, Idaho and South Carolina will save $40bn
Associated Press
Wed 5 Jun 2019 17.33 EDT


The US government plans to reclassify some of the nation’s most dangerous radioactive waste to lower its threat level, outraging critics who say the move would make it cheaper and easier to walk away from cleaning up nuclear weapons production sites in Washington state, Idaho and South Carolina.

The Department of Energy said on Wednesday that labeling some high-level waste as low level will save $40bn in cleanup costs across the nation’s entire nuclear weapons complex. The material that has languished for decades in the three states would be taken to low-level disposal facilities in Utah or Texas, the agency said.

“This administration is proposing a responsible, results-driven solution that will finally open potential avenues for the safe treatment and removal of the lower level waste,” said Paul Dabber, the energy undersecretary. “This will accelerate cleanup and reduce risk.”

The agency will maintain standards set by the independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “with the goal of getting the lower-level waste out of these states without sacrificing public safety”, Dabber said.

Critics said it’s a way for federal officials to walk away from their obligation to properly clean up a massive quantity of radioactive waste left from nuclear weapons production dating to the second world war and the cold war.

The waste is housed at the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina, the Idaho National Laboratory and Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state – the most contaminated nuclear site in the country.

more...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/05/us-to-label-nuclear-waste-as-less-dangerous-to-quicken-cleanup?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=fb_us&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2PJIiapyWPoT3R2GKL8IKsuHYzTD_kleSJTIUOjCfEcp1BJK6OPTr4Pjw#Echobox=1559772759

[pangaia]

1. Saying something is true makes it so.

That is how an authoritarian dictatorship works.

[Turbineguy]

2. This Paul Dabbar guy is supposed to be smart.

Of course, with trump, you could walk in knowing something and walk out not knowing it anymore.

[Kurt V.]

3. I'm starting to think all these cabinet level departments need a serious

re-evaluation of how they're assembled and who they're accountable to.

[TheBlackAdder]

4. Just mix it in with top soil and sell it to Home Depot & Lowes.

[Solly Mack]

5. Dump it at Trump Tower.