WASHINGTON — Over the resistance of state officials, the Department of Energy is moving forward with plans to ship highly radioactive uranium waste to the Nevada National Security Site for burial in a government landfill, federal leaders said Tuesday.
DOE officials insisted the strategy will be safe despite questions about the suitability of disposing potent and long-lived nuclear material in trenches that would be dug deeper than 40 feet into the desert.
Kevin Knobloch, chief of staff to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, said Nevada cannot veto the disposal plan at the government’s self-regulated site about 65 miles north of Las Vegas.
In the face of opposition from Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, Knoblach said DOE has pledged to “work very closely with state and local authorities to make sure we are listening to concerns, answering questions, sharing information.”
Knobloch and other DOE officials spoke to reporters as DOE prepares for public meetings in Las Vegas on Wednesday and in Pahrump on Thursday on the plan, which was delayed earlier this year after it was publicized and began to draw further scrutiny.
Starting early next year, 403 canisters containing a ceramic mixture of uranium-233, uranium-235 and uranium-232 will be transported to Nevada from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory as part of an environmental cleanup of the Tennessee site.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/doe-moves-forward-bury-nuclear-waste-nevada
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