Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Craig Butler said last month the state feels confident in the safety of a planned on-site disposal cell for waste from decommissioning of the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant — and that recent research by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency backs up that conclusion.
“We have patiently and thoroughly explained in person and in writing how the process of approval and construction of this cell is largely, under federal law, determined by DOE, with significant oversight from Ohio EPA,” Butler wrote in a Dec. 27 letter to Billy Spencer, mayor of the nearby village of Piketon.
Spencer has been a vocal critic of DOE’s plans to build the $900 million disposal cell at Portsmouth. The mayor’s primary concern has been whether contaminants could leak through the cell lining and bedrock underneath to taint the local groundwater.
The disposal cell would hold construction debris, including some low-level radioactive waste, from cleanup at Portsmouth. The Energy Department in June 2015 issued its record of decision for the cell, which spells out in detail how the 2 million cubic yards of Portsmouth waste should be dealt with. The Ohio EPA agreed with DOE’s conclusion that the facility posed no significant environmental risk.
Piketon and other local communities have said they prefer shipping this waste to an off-site DOE-approved disposal facility.
Butler said the U.S. EPA also recently endorsed the safety of the proposed cell. On Nov. 16, the Ohio EPA asked its federal counterpart for “an expedited reasonableness review of geologic competency” of the site, according to his letter.
“I have attached to my letter to you, a letter from U.S. EPA which includes reviews from two U.S. EPA subcontractors Akana and Booze Allen Hamilton,” Butler wrote. “These unbiased and undisputedly qualified organizations clearly conclude that the underlying bedrock is strong enough to support the weight of the cell,” he added.
