Nuclear waste storage plan a matter of trustBy Christine Legere, Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass.
June 07--BOSTON -- Can federal energy officials be trusted to put together an interim storage plan for nuclear waste that provides adequate protection for the population and the environment? That question was repeatedly asked by those who attended last week's Boston forum organized by the Department of Energy to get public input on its plan for "consent-based siting" of facilities to temporarily store the 75,000 metric tons of spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors until a permanent repository is built. The spent nuclear fuel is currently being stored at 100 reactor sites around the country, including 14 locations where the reactors were shut down long ago , even though the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 required its removal to a permanent repository. "As a community that is host to this waste, you have our consent to
take it," said In the Northeast, nuclear waste is stored at Yankee Rowe, "The failure to find a site has resulted in waste piling up in places
where it doesn't belong, like a stone's throw from Cape Cod Bay," said Panelist Panelist "You would probably need a referendum where citizens can actually vote to embrace a repository in their community," Raab said. "The vote would have to be closer to 100 percent than a simple majority." Diane Turco, founder and president of Cape Downwinders, was not convinced. "Do you really think the American people are going to be gullible enough to fall for this shell game?" she asked. "With what's going on in Plymouth, there is no trust in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or the Department of Energy." Ed DeWitt, executive director of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, agreed with Turco. "How do you go from 60 years of inability to find sites for nuclear waste to getting a supermajority to agree to take it?" John Kotek, acting assistant secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy, acknowledged the lack of trust in nuclear regulators. A new agency to execute the storage plan would likely be established by Congress, he said. Lampert suggested the establishment of a state and citizens advisory panel, real-time monitoring for radioactivity, the ability for a prospective host community to get expert scientific guidance and the assurance that parent companies would not walk away from problems, hiding behind limited liability corporations. Kotek said not everyone was opposed to living in an area where nuclear waste was stored. "You've got locations around the country who would welcome this, understand the challenges, but know these things are dealt with every day." Andrews County, which covers 1,500 square miles in west Texas and has a population of 17,000, already has endorsed a proposal being made by Waste Control Specialists. The company recently submitted its application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a facility to store 40,000 metric tons of waste at the location, which it hopes to open in 2021. Holtec International, meanwhile, is working on an application for a storage site in southeastern New Mexico and expects to submit its application by year's end. "If not this, then what?" former Massachusetts Energy Commissioner -- Follow ___ (c)2016 Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass. Visit Cape Cod Times, Hyannis, Mass. at www.capecodtimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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