Savannah River Amendment Criticized

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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PRESS  RELEASE
                                    
ENERGY DEPT. BUDGET AMENDMENT PUTS SAVANNAH RIVER WATER AT RISK

PAST PERFORMANCE OF GROUT INDICATES IT MAY NOT ADEQUATELY CONTAIN WASTE,
CREATING RISK OF IRREPARABLE RIVER POLLUTION BEYOND DRINKING WATER LIMITS


Takoma Park, Maryland, May 17, 2004: A new analysis by the Institute for
Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) concludes that a Senate budget
amendment allowing the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to abandon highly
radioactive wastes in tanks next to the Savannah River poses severe
risks for the environment and public health. DOE wants to attempt to
grout, or cement, residual wastes in place rather than spend additional
funds to pump them out.

The IEER analysis is available online at http://www.ieer.org/reports/srs/hlwanalysis.html.
 
According to IEER President, Dr. Arjun Makhijani, "Calculations show
that if only ten percent of the strontium-90 presently in the tank farms
at the Savannah River Site were left behind and grouted, the grout would
have to work nearly perfectly for hundreds of years to prevent the
Savannah River from becoming polluted above the present Safe Drinking
Water limit. There is no experience with grout that can allow
containment projections of this magnitude. On the contrary, experience
with grout so far has been unsatisfactory."
 
Leakage of even a small fraction of the strontium-90 at Savannah River
Site (SRS) into the Savannah River could be disastrous, environmentally
and economically. 
 
"In 1991, major economic damage occurred when the drinking water
standard for the Savannah River was exceeded for only a few days due to
a tritium leak," Makhijani noted, "even though the standard is
calculated as an annual average and there was no annual violation."
 
Strontium-90 is just one of the radioactive contaminants DOE hopes to
leave in SRS waste tanks. They also contain large amounts of cesium-137,
plutonium-238 and americium-241.
 
"If only ten percent of the plutonium-238 was left behind the tanks and
covered with six feet of grout, the residual radioactivity would exceed
the limit for low-level wastes by about ten times," Makhijani added.
?This plan would convert SRS into a vast high-level radioactive waste
dump in the watershed of the Savannah River."
 
Makhijani concluded that if the grout fails, South Carolina and Georgia
would likely have to write off one of their most precious water
resources. 
 
"The performance of the grout would have to be such that leakage would
remain at one part in 100,000 per year or better for a hundred years or
more," stated Makhijani. "If the grout fails to meet this test, the
river may have to be written off for drinking water use. This is because
once the tanks are grouted, it will be essentially impossible to go back
and clean them out."
 
Makhijani continued: "The resultant health, economic and ecological harm
would be incalculable?far greater than any benefit from shortening the
cleanup period for SRS or reducing high-level waste management
expenditures. Nothing less than the future of the Savannah River is at stake."
 
A recent IEER report, "Nuclear Dumps by the Riverside," documented
environmental threats from radioactive wastes at DOE's Savannah River
site. The report concluded that "capping or grouting the wastes in place
compounds the risks." The IEER report is available on the web at
http://www.ieer.org/reports/srs/. A statement by Dr. Makhijani is
available online at http://www.ieer.org/reports/srs/hlwanalysis.html,
along with excerpts from the IEER report on the subject of grout performance.
 
IEER is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization in Takoma Park, Maryland,
that provides the public and policy makers with clear, thoughtful
studies on a variety of energy and environmental issues. IEER has
analyzed radioactive waste management policy for more than 20 years and
has published numerous reports, books, and articles on the subject. See
the IEER web site: www.ieer.org. 

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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