Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
3/6/2015
EnergySolutions is pursuing a plan that would open its Barnwell, S.C. disposal facility to receiving waste from outside the Atlantic Compact, EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker confirmed this week. According to a proposal that still needs state legislative approval, the facility would accept out-of-compact Class B and C waste, while encouraging in-compact Class A waste to go to the company’s Clive, Utah facility. “We are proposing that the Barnwell site once again accept waste from outside the Atlantic Compact,” Walker said in an email. “Our proposal encourages in-compact utilities to send their Class A waste to Clive. The excess space created from offloading that A waste to Clive would be the space utilized for out of compact B and C waste. The revenues generated would go to pay for the operational costs of Barnwell and excess revenues would flow to the local community and state.”
The Barnwell facility closed to out-of-compact waste in 2008, following the formation of the Atlantic Compact in 2000. New Jersey, Connecticut, and South Carolina are the only states currently allowed to use the facility for disposal. Only Waste Control Specialists in Texas currently accepts Class B and C waste from states out-of-compact.
According to EnergySolutions, the motivation for the change stems from an ability to cover Barnwell operational costs as well as offering its customers a new disposal option. “There are three major goals: First, to provide a long term answer to the question of how operational costs at Barnwell will be covered; second, to create a small number of jobs in the local community and to create some additional revenue for the state; and third, to better serve and meet the needs of all of our customers,” Walker said. “This proposal is good for the industry and would provide another option for utilities to dispose of the Class B and C waste.”
For the proposal to move forward, the state legislature would have to pass a bill. EnergySolutions indicated that there is interest from some members of the state Congress, but a timeline to introduction of a bill remains unclear right now. “Overall the response from legislators has been very good as we have discussed the proposal with them and the final decision as to when to proceed will be made by the legislators who are supporting the proposal,” Walker said. According to a report in the State, a publication dedicated to South Carolina news, Sen. Brad Hutto (D), who represents the part of the state where Barnwell is located, said he is interested in the proposal. Hutto is reported to have said a bill could be introduced ‘soon.’
WCS, Sierra Club Point to Safety Case
Competitor Waste Control Specialists, meanwhile, raised concerns about the plan, citing past tritium leaks at the site. While being monitored and under control, small amounts of tritium have leaked from the site into the surrounding groundwater, eventually making its way to the Savannah River. “This is a very small industry, and we have seen in recent years that anything taking place within the industry has a carryover effect to all of us,” WCS spokesman Chuck McDonald said. “So we’re concerned about the ongoing problems at Barnwell. WCS is concerned that a facility that is known to be leaking tritium into groundwater is now considering taking additional amounts of Class B&C low level radioactive waste for disposal.” WCS is the only current facility that can take Class B and C level waste from states out-of-compact.
For the Sierra Club, this move would represent another in a long line of what it deemed unsafe burial practices at the Barnwell site. The group successfully challenged in a state appeals court last year the facility’s lack of rainwater contamination prevention, although EnergySolutions has filed an appeal in the case. “It’s simply incredible that with their practices having been condemned by a Court of three judges, Chem–Nuclear would have the audacity to suggest bringing more radioactivity into our state before they even tell us how they will correct the current disposal practices to prevent future leaks from happening,” South Carolina Sierra Club Chapter Chair Susan Corbett said. Corbett also indicated that the Sierra Club would fight any attempt to open the facility to out-of-compact waste, although she said the chances of it moving past the state legislature were slim.
