Piketon’s village government opposes USA D4pt of Energy’s plans for radioactive waste dump

Piketon, DOE spar over proposed on-site waste site, ChillicotheGazette, Chris Balusik, Reporter, July 30, 2017 PIKETON – As those involved with cleanup operations at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon celebrate the most recent funding allocated for work to create an on-site waste disposal facility, officials within Piketon’s village government are stepping up efforts to prove that work should be stopped.

Officials from the village met with a representative of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency July 10 to discuss conclusions reached by a third-party environmental consultant, The Ferguson Group’s Karl Kalbacher, who the village hired to evaluate plans for a 100-acre disposal cell that would handle low-level contaminated waste from the cleanup work.

The disposal cell has been touted as a cost saving for the cleanup of that low-level waste would not have to be shipped off the DOE property, and a Record of Decision approving the project called it a safer option because of increased accident risks involved with transporting waste to other locations.

Waste with higher levels of contamination would still be sent elsewhere for disposal.

Concerns explained

In his review of the more than 4,000-page DOE study used to create the Record of Decision, Kalbacher concluded that cracks exist in the bedrock below the level represented in the Record of Decision, creating a potential problem. The Record of Decision evaluated three options for waste disposal from the cleanup work, including no action at all, the creation of the on-site disposal facility and shipping all waste off site.

“The (Record of Decision) says that DOE will dig down to competent bedrock, but their landfill construction specifications leave large areas of fractured bedrock in place which will create a faster pathway for low-level nuclear and hazardous wastes to migrate and could also undermine the structural integrity of the landfill,” Kalbacher said. “It simply should not be constructed this way and, at a minimum, it must be modified. We don’t know why or how Ohio EPA concurred with this.”

Kalbacher further voiced concerns that the site would be in violation of a Toxic Substances Control Act provision requiring that the bottom of a landfill line system be installed at least 50 feet from historic high-water tables. The data from DOE, he contends, states the depth of groundwater in some areas of the landfill site is as shallow as 21 feet below the surface, making it impossible to meet the 50 feet requirement.

Piketon Mayor Billy Spencer, in a press release, said the results of the review show problems with the process that led to the Record of Decision and accused DOE of lying to village residents……..

“What else has to happen for people to recognize this whole path forward is flawed?” Spencer said. “The bedrock is cracked and we have a neighbor 1,000 feet from where this thing is supposed to be built. DOE has lied to the public about the geological conditions. They were caught in the lie, yet the Ohio EPA doesn’t seem to think anything ought to change.”

Spencer went on to say that opposition to the creation of the disposal cell has been consistent from the village, the Site Specific Advisory Board, two townships and two school districts in the area. He also said that money already spent on the project should not be considered as having gone to waste if work was stopped…..

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry will have an opportunity to see everything taking place on the DOE site in Piketon when he makes a scheduled visit to the cleanup on Monday. http://www.chillicothegazette.com/story/news/local/2017/07/30/piketon-doe-spar-over-proposed-site-waste-site/507969001/

July 31, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, wastes

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