nuclear-news

Concern over move to increase permitted radiation in landfill

Residents who attended said they were concerned that the meeting was rubber-stamping the permit, which would increase the landfill’s acceptable limit from 10 microrem to as much as 140 microrem.

Permit change to raise radiation level in landfill incites foes, Trib Live News, by Stacey Feredoff, 13 july 12,  Some South Huntingdon residents oppose a permit change for a local landfill to accept a higher level of radiation in waste. About 30 people attended a meeting on Wednesday night with concerns about such hazardous waste commingling with other materials or groundwater at the 159-acre facility owned by Upper St. Clair-based MAX Environmental Technologies.

“Radiation’s cumulative. … What’s a 24/7 exposure going to do? Do you
know?” asked Tim Kautz of Ruffsdale. “What happens if you’re totally
wrong years from now? Oops, too late.”

A panel of officials representing the state Department of
Environmental Protection called the formal meeting to address a permit
change that would allow the facility, which accepts treated residual
waste and hazardous waste, to operate.

Residents who attended said they were concerned that the meeting was rubber-stamping the permit, which would increase the landfill’s acceptable limit from 10 microrem to as much as 140 microrem.

A “rem” is a unit of radiation dose used to describe how much
radiation “energy” is deposited in something. A microrem is
one-millionth of a rem….. Spadaro said it set the radiation limit
because of concerns that the landfill would take medical or nuclear
waste.  …. http://triblive.com/news/2187737-74/radiation-waste-spadaro-permit-landfill-max-meeting-company-dep-environmental

July 14, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, USA