[CPEO-MEF] RADIATION: Western New York Nuclear Service Center (NY)

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

News Release
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
May 7, 2008

Report Finds Scant Progress 21 Years After Feds Signed West Valley 
Clean-Up Pact

ALBANY, NY (05/07/2008; 1030)(readMedia)-- In May 1987, the U.S. 
Department of Energy signed an agreement to begin the process of 
cleaning up radioactive waste at the Western New York Nuclear Service 
Center ("West Valley") in Cattaraugus and Erie counties. Exactly 21 
years later, it has yet to reach the first regulatory milepost (the 
completion of a final environmental impact statement), according to a 
new report issued today by the New York State Department of 
Environmental Conservation.

The report finds there is a pressing need to accelerate the long-running 
clean-up effort - the facility has been closed since 1975. To date, only 
one major aspect of the remediation mandate has been met. The report 
points out that the current federal funding provision necessary to 
accomplish this is woefully inadequate, covering just over half the 
price tag for making real improvements at the site.

The report is available at: http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/43501.html

The report notes that a number of contamination issues remain 
outstanding and makes several recommendations, such as hastening the 
design and planning aspects so that work can begin as soon as possible. 
Other recommendations include decontaminating the "main process" 
building on site, shipping off site as much waste as allowable, emptying 
and drying underground waste tanks, and containing an underground plume 
of radioactive material with new technology. The underground plume now 
stretches approximately one-third of a mile and continues to slowly expand.

The lone major piece of the clean up that has been achieved is the
"vitrification" of liquid high level radioactive waste (solidifying the 
waste into glass-like logs). But even this is a qualified success. 
Because no off-site disposal option had been found for the logs, they 
remain on site - preventing final decontamination of the main process 
building.

With a minimum commitment of $95 million per year for a decade, 
significant cleanup progress would be achievable, the report found. 
That's a pittance compared to the federal budget's $2 billion allocation 
for the nuclear waste site in Hannaford, Wash., and $1.4 billion for the 
Savannah River (S.C.) site. Yet the 2008 federal budget allocates just 
$57.6 million for West Valley.

West Valley is a 3,345-acre site located about 30 miles south of Buffalo 
and 20 miles upstream from the Cattaraugus Reservation of the Seneca 
Nation. The site was formerly run by a private company called Nuclear 
Fuel Services Inc. An estimated 9,200 people live within six miles of 
the site in what is a largely agricultural area.

Approximately 200 acres of the site contain the remains of nuclear fuel 
reprocessing operations, which began in the 1960s. The 1987 agreement 
was signed by the federal government, the Coalition on West Valley 
Nuclear Wastes and the Radioactive Waste Campaign. Among other 
requirements, it mandated completion of a final environmental impact 
statement to help steer the clean-up. That step has yet to be reached.

-30-


--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
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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