Written by Kathleen Ferris   

CITIZENS HAVE “NO STANDING” ON NUCLEAR ISSUES

Despite the efforts of citizens’ groups in Tennessee, 1000 tons of German radioactive waste are headed to Oak Ridge to be incinerated by EnergySolutions/Duratek. We are assured that this low-level medical waste is perfectly safe to burn; they do it all the time. But if it is so safe, why do the Germans, who own state-of-the-art incinerators in their own country, want to ship 1000 tons to us? And who in our government is allowing our state to be polluted by foreign radioactive waste?

During Christmas holidays of last year, four citizens’ organizations in Tennessee sent two formal petitions to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), just before the Dec. 30 deadline. (The government likes to make it easy for the public to participate.) One petition was sent by the Citizens’ Advisory Panel of the Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee. The other was filed by the Tennessee Environmental Council (TEC), the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA), and Citizens to ENDIT, asking for a public hearing before the NRC gave approval to import foreign radioactive waste. Our petition was co-signed by 22 other environmental organizations.

We also filed a petition with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) asking that a public hearing be held before they granted a license to EnergySolutions/Duratek to burn foreign waste. TDEC Division of Radiological Health totally ignored our petition.

Then we wrote letters to Governor Bill Haslam expressing our alarm that Tennessee may become a destination for the processing of radioactive waste from around the world, and stressing to him the environmental dangers of incineration which releases toxins into the atmosphere that can cause cancer, asthma, birth defects, heart disease, and damage to the immune and reproductive systems. The governor did not address our concerns. Instead he forwarded our letters to Mr. Robert J. Martineau, his newly appointed Commissioner of TDEC.



Commissioner Martineau responded to individual letters and emails as follows: "Whether or not to allow Energy Solutions to import waste to the United States for treatment is a federal policy issue and the decision is up to the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC). This authorization process is outside the regulatory authority of the State.

The State of Tennessee . . . issues licenses and inspects radioactive waste processors in Tennessee. . . . It is important to note that the Department has authority to regulate radioactive waste processors but cannot regulate the origins of the waste."

In other words, the State of Tennessee will accept the imported nuclear waste if the NRC allows it to enter the country. Conversely, the NRC will allow the waste to be imported if the state will accept it for processing. This legal runaround is designed to allow both levels of government to deny responsibility, whereas in fact, they are both responsible.



On Feb. 10, 2011, a letter signed by Johnny Graves from the TDEC Division of Radiological Health was sent to the NRC: "Upon review of this information and the references to the authorizations granted by the Tennessee Radioactive Material Licenses issued to Duratek, the Division finds no technical reason to prohibit the processing of this described waste at Duratek facilities in Tennessee."



On June 6, 2011, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its ruling, directing the Office of International Programs to issue license IW029 granting EnergySolutions permission to import the German waste, and telling all four citizens’ groups from Tennessee that they do not “have standing” and that their petitions for hearings were denied.

We recognize that the term “to have standing” is a technical legal term; we also recognize that at all levels of government, state and federal, the people of Tennessee literally lack “standing” when up against the all-powerful moneyed interests of the nuclear industry, which are allied with the governmental regulatory agencies that are supposed to be protecting us. We are David fighting Goliath, and we seem to have lost this battle for our health and welfare.

Now that the precedent has been set, with German waste permitted to enter the U.S. for burning, Tennessee will become the destination for processing radioactive waste from all over the world. EnergySolutions previously applied to import 20,000 tons of Italian nuclear waste to Oak Ridge . We can probably assume that the Italians will be next. Then who? The Japanese? Will we receive “low-level”radioactive waste from the Fukushima Daiichi disaster? Who would stop it?