2007 CPEO Military List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>
Date: 20 Sep 2007 22:50:59 -0000
Reply: cpeo-military
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Sandia National Labs’ (NM) Mixed Waste Landfill
 
Undercover
Are we watching our radioactive waste?

By Christie Chisholm
Alibi News (NM)
September 20-26, 2007

Robert Gilkeson has a lot in common with the 73 cubic yards of transuranic waste festering in Sandia National Labs’ Mixed Waste Landfill. Both are homeless. Both are situated in dangerous locations. And both are waiting for the day when a bunch of scientists will make a decision that will allow them to move on.

Gilkeson’s predicament, of course, is a matter of choice, whereas the landfill isn’t quite so lucky. The 2.6-acre unlined pit became the dumping grounds for nuclear weapons research materials during the Cold War and, with nothing more than a 15- to 25-foot seal of dirt pressed over it in 1988, since has become a hotbed of local controversy. Some scientists and activists argue the site should be excavated to avoid potential hazards the radioactive and toxic waste could provoke, such as contents of the site slipping into the air or groundwater. Other scientists and state officials believe the site is too dangerous and fickle to clean out and have pushed for the landfill to be left alone and monitored.

Two years ago, the latter side won out when the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) ruled that the site should be capped with an additional three feet of dirt and carefully watched, saying previous monitoring showed contaminants weren’t moving at a rate that would allow them to escape into the surrounding environment. Yet the realization this summer that some monitoring wells at the landfill weren’t working properly, causing NMED to order their replacement, has left some wondering whether last year’s decision was based on reliable evidence.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.alibi.com/index.php?story=20486&scn=news

--


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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