Jul 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Christine Stanley Odessa American, Texas

For some, Waste Control Specialists' sprawling radioactive waste dump in Andrews County is a godsend.

It's one of few places nationwide where "hot" waste can be permanently disposed of after it serves its purpose in medical procedures, uranium processing and nuclear energy production -- a process that's been increasingly touted as a way to wean the United States off dependence on foreign oil.

But to Sierra Club members, a former Texas Commission on Environmental Quality geologist and some residents of Eunice, N.M., the site has grave potential to pollute.

While they acknowledge that process could take centuries, they say its effects could be devastating -- and if that pollution happens, the federal government will most likely be stuck with the bill to clean it up.

"In our opinion, having these types of radioactive waste products underground is a faulty approach in the first place," said Ken Kramer, president of the Austin-based Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. "If you're going to have a facility to handle this type of waste, it should be an above-ground facility that's built so that waste materials may be monitored on an ongoing basis."

WCS President Rod Baltzer said his company has spent millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours on testing to prove that the Andrews County site is safe for radioactive waste disposal.

"This (waste) will be protected for tens of thousands of years," he said.

THE SUIT

The Sierra Club filed a lawsuit in state district court June 30 against the TCEQ, Texas' environmental regulatory agency, to try and force a public hearing on a license granted to WCS in May.

TCEQ commissioners voted 2-1 to allow WCS to start disposing of what's known as by-product waste, mainly radioactive leftovers from uranium mining operations.

Part of that will include 3,776 canisters of Cold War-era radioactive waste that's being stored above ground at the WCS site now.

The TCEQ denied Sierra Club members and concerned residents in Eunice the chance for a public hearing on the same day the WCS license was granted -- commissioner Larry Soward was the lone voice speaking up in favor of a hearing.

During the May meeting where the WCS license was granted, Soward said it would be in the state's best interest to grant a hearing to make sure the WCS site isn't unsafe for burial of radioactive materials.

TCEQ spokeswoman Lisa Wheeler said the agency wouldn't comment on anything having to do with WCS "because of pending litigation."

Public hearings have an administrative law judge presiding who makes a recommendation to TCEQ commissioners on whether or not a company should get a license based on all evidence discussed. Commissioners then make a final decision with that recommendation in hand.

TCEQ deputy clerk Rommel Corro said the final decision could be appealed in district or county court.

In WCS' case, people on both sides of the debate could have submitted evidence as to why they think the facility should or shouldn't be able to permanently dispose of radioactive by-product waste.

According to TCEQ documents, the agency's top official said a public hearing wasn't necessary because there wasn't "a significant degree of public interest" in the license.

Twelve Eunice residents requested a public hearing. No one in Andrews County submitted a request.

"Eunice is actually closer to the facility," The Sierra Club's Kramer said. "Many of those folks do business and travel between Odessa and Midland."

Kramer said a public hearing is necessary because there are still many unanswered questions surrounding the WCS site, including whether or not WCS properly classified the dump's geology. The company says its testing proves radioactivity cannot leach into an aquifer that lies below the pits that'll house by-product waste canisters.

"There's been some public statements by people who worked for TCEQ raising concerns about the fact that the license was granted," Kramer said. "These things are not getting adequate public scrutiny. We don't know the answers to some of these questions, but they need to be adequately addressed in a contested-case hearing."

THE DEBATE

One of the Sierra Club's main concerns with the WCS waste site is the possibility of radioactive material leaching into groundwater over time. There are several water formations at 180 feet and 225 feet below the WCS dump, and an entire aquifer lies much further below those.

WCS' Baltzer said Andrews County's geology is ideal for permanent radioactive waste disposal pits because of red bed clay, a nearly impermeable type of soil that the pits are being dug into. He said the clay will prevent any radioactive material from leaking into groundwater, and a series of liners will be placed at the bottom of the pits to be double sure.

"We think we have the perfect site. This red bed clay is dry -- it's not going to let this material move anywhere," Blatzer said, adding that the clay is about 100 times more impermeable than concrete.

Former TCEQ staff geologist Patricia Bobeck disagrees.

Bobeck was a TCEQ employee for more than a decade and said she spent her last 4 1/2 years there reviewing WCS' by-product disposal application before she left the agency. She said it was clear that her managers wanted to proceed with licensing WCS despite her objections, and she wanted to explore other options.

She's self-employed as a geologic consultant now.

"I spent four years evaluating that project, giving it my best professional judgment, and I could see that management was going in another direction," Bobeck said. "I didn't want to be involved in that project going forward."

Bobeck said there's a significant amount of water in the red bed clay that WCS officials are depending on. And, if that water contacts waste, it'll help radioactive material migrate down into the aquifer below the dump site.

Baltzer said the expected operating life of the by-product disposal pit is 30 years, meaning WCS will fill it with waste for about that long before the pit is sealed off and responsibility for all maintenance and any potential cleanup will be placed with the federal government.

Bobeck said there'll be runoff water collecting in the bottom of that pit during that time, which could eventually migrate down into groundwater formations.

"The site is really geologically not suitable for disposing of radioactive waste there," Bobeck said. "There will be plenty of water coming into that hole coming into contact with that waste."

Bobeck also questioned the stability of the containers that the radioactive waste will be housed in.

She said the waste will stay "hot" for up to 250,000 years based on calculating the half-life of some materials in it, but the steel containers that surround it will probably corrode in about 200 years.

Baltzer said he's not sure how long the by-product waste will stay radioactive, and WCS site General Manager Linda Beach said the company hasn't done any modeling to see how long the steel containers will last because tests show the red bed clay is solid enough to prevent any leakage.

"The canister is an extra safety measure," Baltzer said.

The Sierra Club has also raised concerns about potential accidents involving the trucks and railcars that transport radioactive waste to Andrews and what will happen in the event of severe weather, including high winds that might have the ability to spread radioactive material.

"Geologically speaking, anything is possible," Bobeck said. "We humans don't have a very good ability to evaluate everything that nature can do over 10,000 years. My final evaluation before I left was to deny the issuance of the license to WCS."

WCS spokesman Chuck McDonald said Bobeck's assertions about the WCS site and similar ones voiced by other former TCEQ employees are "absurd on their face," and WCS has dug hundreds of borings to get soil samples to prove it.

"Anyone who tells you that is flat out wrong," he said.

Rose Gardner, a lifelong Eunice resident, said she sides with Bobeck and others who have spoken out against the WCS by-product license.

"It's radioactive stuff they have out there," Gardner said. "They're burying it. That's not good -- out of sight, out of mind."

Gardner said she's concerned about groundwater and soil contamination and would prefer if WCS stored its waste above ground.

"All of this is based on 'what if,' " she said. "What if it leaks? An aquifer feeds a lot of people, land and crops that are watered and animals that are fed and watered. It trickles down."

WHAT'S NEXT

Kramer said he hopes the Sierra Club's lawsuit will be successful in forcing a public hearing and that the judge presiding over it will rule in favor of shutting down the by-product disposal pit's construction.

He said the Sierra Club filed a request for a rehearing with the TCEQ but is assuming it will be denied, so that's why Kramer's team went ahead and filed suit in state district court.

Baltzer said WCS is going full steam ahead on the by-product disposal pit's construction plans despite the Sierra Club's lawsuit. He expects digging to start as soon as August.

WCS is also applying to build two more radioactive waste pits to store more waste. Baltzer expects public comment on those to start up at any time.

Baltzer said it's important to have the WCS site because there are so few places where radioactive waste can be permanently stored. He said there are 1,600 licensed waste producers in Texas alone.

If the push for more nuclear energy comes to fruition in the future, that number will undoubtedly increase.

He said Texas has spent millions to find a suitable place for a radioactive waste dump in the state, and all of those efforts had failed until WCS started in Andrews County.

McDonald said likewise.

"The state has been trying to get this permitted for years," McDonald said. "Do you want to put (radioactive waste) in a red bed clay hole, or do you want to leave it sitting in downtown Dallas or Houston at places where it's being created?"

CONTAMINATION PROOF?

WCS President Rod Baltzer gave several reasons why the red bed clay that surrounds his company's radioactive disposal pits will prevent any "hot" material from leaching into groundwater. Here are some highlights:

--The clay is 100 times more impermeable than concrete.

--Groundwater will travel 400 feet every 1,000 years. The person closest to the WCS site lives 3 1/2 miles -- 18,480 feet -away.

--There will be several liners placed at the top and bottom of the clay pits to prevent anything from leaching.

--WCS has drilled more than 400 borings to take soil samples in and around the WCS site. Analysis of those samples has proven that the clay is incredibly dry.

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