Report Challenges Handling of Radioactive Waste

Date: March 21, 2002

Source: News Room

A new report from the National Research Council contends that the federal government inconsistently decides whether slightly radioactive materials should be recycled, put in a landfill or securely stored. There is no evidence public health has been jeopardized, the report notes, but the council says it is bad public policy to have haphazard decision-making. At issue are the tons of materials that are thrown out at existing commercial nuclear facilities or sites being decommissioned. The licensees that operate the facilities say it is cost effective to recycle the lightly radioactive scrap into everyday items or release it into landfills. But environmentalists say they want it stored in a secure, isolated facility as nuclear waste. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission makes the decisions. The study found the NRC doesn't always use the same criteria to judge similar materials.

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