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Thursday, August 31, 2006

NRC postpones weapons nuke waste meeting
By sstamper @ 8:39 PM :: 912 Views :: 2 Comments ::

NRC postpones weapons nuke waste meeting
UPI
August 30, 2006
By Ben Lando

U.S. nuclear regulators have postponed a Thursday meeting with the U.S. Energy Department in an ongoing dispute over the disposal of nuclear weapons waste.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission notified the Energy Department Wednesday that it would delay Thursday's meeting because it didn't meet the required 10-day public notification of open meetings.

The sit-down was requested by the Energy Department to air and resolve complaints it has over the NRC's proposed guidelines for how to dispose of a portion of nuclear waste from U.S. nuclear weapons manufacturing, NRC spokesman David McIntyre said.

At issue is how much oversight the National Defense Authorization Act of fiscal year 2005 gave the NRC over the Energy Department's plans to determine whether the waste at two facilities is high- or low-level radioactive byproduct.

The Energy Department wants the negotiations to be private, but NRC Chairman Dale Klein has said it should now be in the sphere of public debate because Energy Department complaints were made part of the pubic comment of NRC's proposed Standard Review Plan, instead of internally.

The Standard Review Plan is the NRC's proposed guidelines for "consultation and monitoring" of the Energy Department's disposal plan, McIntyre wrote in an e-mail to United Press International.

A new meeting date has not been set.

Comments

By JIMMY MACKEY @ Monday, September 11, 2006 2:03 AM

I think that this article is only the tip of the iceburg for DOE. There has been a lot of changing of all that was done up to this point with the public and openness. The DOE and the NRC would only benefit from allowing the public and its stakeholders (i.e. SSAB's) to listen and to be able to comment on both sides of this issue. There is nothing about this issue that needs to come under closed sessions unless it is a legal matter and then no decision should be made without the public informed and involved ASAP. I suggest that DOE and the NRC put all their pettiness aside and reschedule this meeting and make it open for everyone and lets resolve this important issue to the benefit of the workers and public safety..short-term and long-term. meant

By Jeremy Maxand @ Wednesday, September 13, 2006 7:22 PM

Jimmy, what are you hearing in South Carolina on the reclassification issue?

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