nuclear-news

Blended waste decision is weeks away, regulator says, BY JUDY FAHYS, The Salt Lake Tribune 2 Aug 11, A state regulator said Tuesday it will be at least a few weeks before a decision is made on allowing “down-blended” radioactive waste to be buried at the EnergySolutions’ landfill in Tooele County.

Rusty Lundberg, director of the Utah Division of Radiation Control, said the company answered a few additional questions his agency raised, and it will take a few weeks before any decision on whether the company will be asked to do an in-depth “performance assessment” before large volumes of blended waste roll into the disposal site.

Blending involves diluting higher-concentration radioactive waste into waste with lower concentrations. The technique has been used to a limited extent for years, but it has become more attractive to the nuclear industry because of a shortage of disposal for classes B and C waste, which has radioactive-hazard levels too high for the Tooele County site.

Utah lawmakers banned classes B and C waste in 2005, and the state Radiation Control Board opposes blending done “when the intent is to alter the waste classification for the purposes of disposal-site access.”

Allowing waste blending would solve a problem for many nuclear reactor operators that have had nowhere to send their classes B and C waste since new restrictions began at a South Carolina disposal site in July 2008….