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Did you hear the good news? Quoting the Brattleboro Reformer, "Come the day Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant is decommissioned, there will now be a place to bury its reactor vessel and other radioactive parts and components. On Jan. 14, Waste Control Specialists announced their application for a low-level radioactive waste site had received conditional approval from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality."
Vermonters do not want our trash, and neither do any of our neighboring states. But Texas, evidently, is the "lesser, conquerable nation" we somehow all thought it might be.
Unless, of course, the good people of Andrews County, Texas object to the idea of taking on a radiation nightmare just so they can bring 75 jobs to the area. It's a prospect that the Reformer article explicitly pooh-poohs, based on information received from Eddie Selig, a spokesperson for a local group, Advocates for Responsible Disposal in Austin, Texas. Selig seems completely comfortable with the idea of burying radioactive waste products in Andrews County, Texas, which is not surprising, given that Austin is not in Andrews County, and that his organization is not an advocacy organization at all but is funded by Vermont Yankee, S.T.P. Nuclear Operating Company, Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant, and other companies and organizations that produce radioactive waste products. The fact that the founding principles of Advocates for Responsible Disposal extol the benefits to society of burying radioactive waste products probably didn't hurt them in creating their "advocacy" position, either.
Is Selig right that no one in Andrews County, Texas cares—and that this is pretty much a done deal? (There are, after all, only 9 people per square mile in Andrews County, but it's a big place.) Or do I hear a faint chorus of protest rising up from the lesser, conquerable nation? Good, Lord! I hear singing! Is it the people of Vermont and Massachusetts protesting the idea of radioactive waste being trucked once again down I91? Or could that really be the 13,000+ voices of Andrews County singing the "Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Blues"?
Amen,
Fake-Rob
1 comment:
Dear Fake-Rob, The NRC has just dropped another plum in your lap (as if you need three) with their decision to extend the "Waste Confidence Rule", which allows them to ignore the thorny issue of disposal of high level nuclear waste for 30 (60, 100) years after a nuke is shuttered. They have confidence that some future civilization will figure out how to deal with it. Heck, they might even eat it as food--who are we to consider it "waste"? The Dec. 8 deadline for public comments has been extended 60 days to February 6 or so. This rule allows NRC to duck the NEPA requirement that they look at the environmental impact of the additional nuclear waste stream resulting from relicensing old plants for another 20 (40) years... (or so they think--the Massachusetts Atty. General sees is differently and is taking them to court over it!) The Waste Confidence Rule (better termed the "Rapture Rule") is the most Orwellian and patently undemocratic piece of Agency sophistry I have ever heard of, and I think your readers would enjoy commenting on it. To do so, they must send comments to:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN:
Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff.
E-mail comments to:
Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov. If you
do not receive a reply e-mail confirming
that we have received your comments,
contact us directly at 301–415–1677.
Yours Truly, Laughing Mama
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