An advisory body to the Department of Energy has declined to ask government agencies reconsider their approval of a planned on-site radioactive waste disposal cell Portsmouth Site in Ohio
The Portsmouth Site Specific Advisory Board on May 10 voted 10-6 to urge DOE and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to reopen the formal 2015 record of decision for the $900 million disposal facility. However, the reconsideration measure required a two-thirds majority to win approval, said Dennis Foreman, a Pike County, Ohio, teacher who serves on the advisory panel.
The advisory board provides advice and recommendations to DOE on cleanup at Portsmouth, a former uranium enrichment complex.
Foreman has formally challenged the result of the vote, saying some board members who voted against reconsideration have employment or family links to the Portsmouth Site or its contractors, which present a potential conflict of interest.
David Borak, the designated federal officer for the advisory boards at DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, told Foreman by email he will discuss the issue with the Energy Department’s general counsel. Foreman had asked Borak to look into potential conflicts.
While not taking a position on reopening the record of decision, Energy Communities Alliance Executive Director Seth Kirshenberg told Foreman in an email the Energy Department has revisited and reversed prior decisions on multiple occasions. The ECA chief cited the ongoing saga of the multibillion-dollar Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Fuel Facility in South Carolina, which DOE has sought to cancel for years and now wants to convert into a production plant for nuclear-warhead cores.
The disputed vote is the latest sign local opponents haven’t given up their fight against the disposal cell, which is designed to hold 2 million cubic yards of waste from decontamination and demolition of buildings at Portsmouth.
The village of Piketon and other local communities have, passed resolutions opposing the facility. Local foes say the ground underneath the proposed cell is unsuitable for a such a facility because of cracked bedrock. The Energy Department has said the cell is part of a plan to return of most of the property to the community for reuse as quickly as possible. The agency and the Ohio EPA say the site has undergone extensive environmental study.