RE: [CPEO-MEF] 30 Year Feasibility Timeframe

[loc@icx.net]

It's my understanding that the 30 year timeframe is an EPA rule for
required duration of a remedy under Superfund.  This will ensure long
term work for environmental engineering firms.  

I agree that the geology of the situation described would make it a poor
choice for siting a landfill, or capping an uncontrolled dump site (as
opposed to relocating the waste).  I guess the taxpayers will have to
fund that remediation again in a few decades.

What I can't understand is why hazardous wastes that are toxic
forever--mercury, lead, thallium, and the like, are subject only to a
30-year remedy duration, while radioactive wastes that decay away and
have decreasing risk over time are required to be entombed for thousands
of years (Yucca Mountain).  It's always seemed irrational to me.
-- 
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Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee
102 Robertsville Road, Suite B, Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Toll free 888-770-3073 ~ www.local-oversight.org
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