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NRC turns over depleted uranium documents

NRC turns over depleted uranium documents
By BROCK VERGAKIS Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated PressApril 22, 2009, Houston Chronicle 23 April 09

SALT LAKE CITY — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has turned over thousands of pages of documents that might help explain why it recently decided to classify large quantities of depleted uranium as the least hazardous type of low-level radioactive waste.

The NRC’s March decision could open the door for more than 1 million tons of depleted uranium to be disposed of in Utah and Texas at private disposal sites in the rural western parts of both states.

Depleted uranium is different from other low-level radioactive waste because it becomes more radioactive over time for up to 1 million years…………………….

Matheson and Markey contend the NRC erred in its 3-1 decision, which was made along party lines.

The two sit on the subcommittee that oversees the NRC and have called the ruling an “arbitrary and capricious mischaracterization” of the waste.

“The commission’s action to classify depleted uranium as Class A even though it poses more severe risks to health and safety, and requires much greater effort for disposal, seems to be unsupportable and inconsistent with the intent of the law,” they wrote to NRC Chairman Dale Klein.

NRC turns over depleted uranium documents | AP Texas News | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle

April 23, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics, USA | antinuclear, depleted, nuclear, radioactive, uranium