Hazardous-waste safety violations continue at Los Alamos National
Laboratory
Dumping of radioactive materials
in the Irish Sea remains controversial
Department of Energy backs away
from plans to sell contaminated scrap metals
*During its 1998 inspections of Los Alamos
National Laboratory (or LANL), the New Mexico Environment Department's
Radioactive Materials Bureau found that the lab continues in its
long-established pattern of violating the New Mexico Hazardous Waste
Act and other hazardous waste management regulations. State regulators
proposed a penalty of nearly $850,000 for the 1998 violations, only
two weeks after fining the lab over $1.1 million for infractions
during 1997.
The New Mexico Environment Department (or NMED) cited
a total of 30 violations in its most recent compliance order, including
the improper marking of hazardous waste containers, exceeding time
limits for waste storage, and failures to test chemicals or metals
to identify them as hazardous waste. Moreover, the state alleged
that the lab has failed to keep proper paperwork, perform inspections,
and maintain emergency equipment at facilities where the hazardous
materials are handled.
While lab officials claim that the alleged
violations never presented a direct risk to the public, state regulators
believe that the lab's non-compliance with safety regulations could
result in leaks, airborne releases, and mistakes in the handling
and disposal of hazardous materials. "We don't consider these to
be minor," said Greg Lewis, Director of Water and Waste Management
at the NMED. "Those could have significant impacts."
The latest
violations are similar to those cited for 1997, continuing a series
of infractions which the state has found almost every year since
1990. The lab has had compliance problems ever since inspections
began in the mid-1980s.
*Three years after the British government admitted
that thousands of tons of radioactive materials were dumped at
six different locations in the Irish Sea, a government-appointed
task force reported that the waste poses no serious risks to human
health and marine life. The radioactive waste was dumped between
1950 and 1976 and includes contaminated substances from Glasgow
and Edinburgh Universities, as well as industrial materials from
the British Ministry of Defense.
The task force's risk assessment,
which was based on documentation provided by the British government,
has drawn widespread criticism from the British Green and Labor
Parties. Patricia McKenna, of the Green Party, said that "the
report's assertion that the dumping did not constitute a health
hazard was simply irresponsible on the part of a national government
supposed to safeguard the health and well-being of [the] people."
The report mentions the possibility that some of the radioactive
substances may be dislodged from the seabed and be washed ashore,
just as other wastes dumped in the Irish Sea washed up on Scottish
and Irish coastlines in 1995 and 1998. "Although it appears highly
unlikely, the possibility of return of the dumped material cannot
be completely discounted," the report says.
*Facing criticism from politicians and industry
leaders, the Department of Energy (or DOE) is backing away from
plans to sell thousands of tons of radioactive scrap metals left
over from manufacturing nuclear weapons to the civilian recycled
metals market. DOE stated that the human health impacts from the
release of the materials need to be more thoroughly investigated.
The 1997 proposal has encountered strong opposition from nuclear
watchdog groups and members of Congress, who fear that the radioactive
metal could end up in consumer products, such as stainless steel
tableware and braces for children's teeth. The proposed action
would have included "volumetrically contaminated" metals, which
are radioactive throughout, and the radiation cannot be easily
removed.
Moreover, the plans have drawn criticism from the steel
industry itself. "It would hurt our workers and our facilities,
if it isn't in fact safe, and the people won't ever believe it's
safe," said Thomas Sneeringer, senior vice president of the American
Iron and Steel Institute. DOE had originally intended to sell
6,000 tons of contaminated nickel for $41 million later this year,
and had slated another 10,000 tons of radioactive nickel for future
sales.
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