[CPEO-MEF] Sandia National Labs’ (NM) Mixed Waste Landfill

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

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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