The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it has no plans for a public hearing on the Department of Energy’s waste acceptance criteria for the On-Site Disposal Facility being built at the Portsmouth Site.
The document is available online, an agency spokeswoman noted by email.
“There is no requirement for a public hearing,” Heidi Griesmer said.
The Energy Department, at its discretion, could discuss it at one of many local public forums scheduled before the facility is scheduled to start receiving waste this fall. The next such meeting is for the Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board, slated for May 7, Griesmer said. That would be one week after a stay-at-home order issued by Gov. Mike DeWine is currently set to expire.
The Pike County Ohio Board of Commissioners earlier this month urged the state EPA to fully disclose the waste criteria and provide an “open dialogue” for the public regarding what types of construction debris will go into the new facility rather than being shipped off-site.
The document was submitted to the state in April 2018 by DOE and its remediation contractor at the former gaseous diffusion plant, Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth. About 1.47 million cubic yards of waste is expected to result from tearing down structures at Portsmouth – most of it from three huge process buildings used in uranium enrichment, with demolition of X-326 beginning as early as this fall.
The facility located in the northeast corner of the Portsmouth Site could take several types of material, according to the criteria. Accepted material would include soil; debris that include pieces of concrete or metal up to 10 feet long; larger debris that cannot be easily compressed, such as parts of construction equipment; material that will naturally decompose over time, such as contaminated wood; and items that require special handling because they are coated in asbestos.
Banned items include material subject to ignition as stipulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), transuranic waste, high-level radioactive waste, acid batteries, oils’; and PCBs. Waste from outside of the Portsmouth Site is also prohibited.
