nuclear-news

US Energy Department’s dilemma over depleted uranium disposal

This type of low-level radioactive waste, though it meets state standards now, presents a special problem for regulators because it gets increasingly hazardous for around 1 million years and large quantities could potentially exceed state hazard allowances. Separate from the Savannah River waste, the company already has buried 49,000 tons of DU from past disposal contracts…..

Energy Department cancels search for interim depleted uranium storage | The Salt Lake TribuneBy Judy fahys  Dec 21, 2010 The U.S. Energy Department has scrapped its search for temporary storage for two shipments of depleted uranium and is now looking for another place to bury the low-level radioactive waste permanently.

Spokeswoman Jen Stutsman said her agency still wants “safe and cost-effective disposition” of depleted uranium from the Savannah River Site, but the agency hasn’t settled on a path forward after delays that began about a year ago when Utah Gov. Gary Herbert asked the Energy Department to stop sending the Savannah River waste here after the first of three shipments had already rolled into Utah.

About a year ago, a 5,400-drum shipment of DU from the Savannah River cleanup arrived at the EnergySolutions Inc. landfill, where it sits in a cell uncovered. Herbert persuaded the Energy Department to stop two more shipments totalling 9,400 drums and to delay permanent disposal of the waste already in Utah until the state updates its regulations to ensure that the Tooele County site is suitable for large quantities of DU.

This type of low-level radioactive waste, though it meets state standards now, presents a special problem for regulators because it gets increasingly hazardous for around 1 million years and large quantities could potentially exceed state hazard allowances. Separate from the Savannah River waste, the company already has buried 49,000 tons of DU from past disposal contracts…..

Energy Department cancels search for interim depleted uranium storage | The Salt Lake Tribune

December 22, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | depleted uranium, Uranium, USA, wastes