Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
4/24/2015
EnergySolutions has officially pulled its proposal to reopen the Barnwell disposal facility to out-of-compact waste, Barnwell General Manager Michael Benjamin said this week at the Low-Level Waste Forum in Alexandria, Va. Last month, EnergySolutions released a proposal that called for the facility to 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. The plan, though, needed legislative approval. “The proposal to re-open Barnwell to out-of-compact waste has been removed from legislative action,” Benjamin said. “We will continue to be a good community partner to Barnwell County and the state of South Carolina, and we will continue to serve South Carolina, New Jersey, and the Atlantic Compact.” EnergySolutions declined to comment further this week.
The EnergySolutions proposal faced a challenge when key South Carolina political figures voiced their opposition to the plan. Republican Gov. Nikki Haley spoke against the proposal in a press conference last month, calling the plan “a huge step backwards for the state of South Carolina.” Haley also attacked the jobs argument attached to the proposal. “We don’t sell our soul for jobs and money,” Haley said. “Yes, I’m the jobs governor, and yes we want to go in and improve the economy. But you have to go in and look at what cost do you do that. I’m not willing to go and take in nuclear waste that our kids and grandkids are going to have to deal with.”
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 generators in out-of-compact states.
