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More Nuclear Waste for New Mexico?

On February 4, the formal processes were initiated to determine whether a new uranium enrichment plant to provide fuel for nuclear power plants will be built near Eunice, New Mexico. On that day, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published a notice in the Federal Register opening public comment on the environmental impact statement (EIS) for Louisiana Energy Services (LES) license application. On February 6, the NRC published another Federal Register notice, setting out the expected 30-month schedule that will lead to its decision to grant or deny the license.

LES, a limited partnership with 90% of the ownership from European nuclear companies, is hoping that its past history will not be repeated in New Mexico. Meanwhile, many New Mexicans oppose the plant and point out that it could be a new nuclear waste dump forever.

The history that LES does not want to repeat is its 15-year futile search for a site to build its enrichment plant. In 1989, LES proposed to build the plant near Homer, Louisiana, but withdrew its license application in 1997 because of strong opposition. In 2002, LES announced that it would build the facility near Hartsville, Tennessee. Faced again with strong opposition, LES pulled out of Tennessee and came to New Mexico in September 2003.

Part of its past history includes that LES was deemed to be untruthful by some citizens and state officials in Louisiana and Tennessee. On its website, LES now proclaims: "We have made it our policy to keep our communications straightforward and honest at all times." It also has new officials in charge of the project.

LES promises

Since about 90 percent of the uranium hexafluoride processed at the plant remains as waste, what to do with the projected 15,527 14-ton waste containers is a major problem. Even before publicly announcing its plans to build the enrichment plant in New Mexico, LES President James Ferland had promised Governor Bill Richardson that "LES commits that there will be no disposal or long-term storage (beyond the life of the plant)…in the State of New Mexico." LES further committed to "ensuring that a disposal path outside the State of New Mexico is utilized as soon as possible" and to "put in place as a part of the NRC license a financial surety bonding mechanism that assures funding will be available...for the decontamination of the LES plant as well as the ultimate disposal" of the waste.

In early December, 2003, LES again promised Governor Richardson that it would remove the plants nuclear waste "in a timely manner." While it had earlier promised that the on-site waste storage pad would "hold a few years worth, no more," the LES license application asked that all the waste remain at the plant throughout its 30-year operation. The "preferred plausible strategy" for the wastes included in the license application is for a private company to convert the waste to a "low level" waste so it could be disposed at "the Cotter mines in Colorado." However, LES had never discussed that option with the owner of the mine, who was first informed about the idea by a reporter with the Albuquerque Journal.

On January 9, the state's largest newspaper editorialized that LES "already rejected in two other states - hasn't inspired much trust." The editorial concluded: "Unless LES can establish itself here as a plain-speaking, trustworthy corporate citizen, it faces the likelihood of another meltdown from a chain reaction of negative public opinion."

LES had discussed the possible "deconversion" facility with ConverDyn, which produces uranium hexafluoride to be enriched at the LES plant, and with Cogema, the French company that processes similar material. Neither of those companies will make plans for such a conversion plant, which would also have to be licensed by the NRC, until LES receives its license and signs a contract with the company.

A "legislative fix"?

At the time of the renewed LES commitment in early December, New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici stated that he would sponsor legislation in 2004 to help ensure that the waste does not remain in New Mexico. Just three weeks earlier, Senator Domenici, responding to LES's request and with no prior notice, inserted Section 637 into the National Energy Bill. That section would substantially weaken the licensing requirements, including shortening the licensing process to 24 months, and have the federal government take title and possession of LES's wastes.

Because the Energy bill was stopped by a Senate filibuster, Section 637 did not become law, but LES still supports the provisions being enacted in some future legislation. In February, when Senator Domenici proposed a revised Energy Bill, Section 637 was unchanged and included no provision to assure that LES's waste would not remain in New Mexico. Senator Domenici repeated his commitment to introduce the promised legislation, but the actual provision has not been publicly released.

Meanwhile, Ohio Governor Bob Taft wrote to the NRC:

We request that the NRC not approve any new uranium enrichment facility until it is determined how and where the DUF6 [depleted uranium hexaflouride] byproduct from such a facility will be stored and processed. In addition, we want you to be aware that acceptance of such additional DUF6 by Ohio would not be automatic or inevitable. There would be environmental and public safety issues that would have to be negotiated and resolved before we could agree to acceptance of additional material.

Governor Taft was responding to the possibility that, if the federal government was responsible for LES's waste, as Section 637 would require, it would want to bring the waste to the Portsmouth, Ohio uranium enrichment plant where the Department of Energy plans to build a deconversion facility. There are 198,000 metric tons of waste already at Portsmouth, and it will take at least several decades to process and dispose of that waste.

Thus, the LES commitment remains a paper promise with no force of law. While the license could restrict the amount of waste that could be stored onsite, thereby requiring either off-site disposal or shutting down the plant, LES adamantly opposes any such restriction. Thus, waste storage and the related matter of how large the financial assurance requirement must be to carry out waste disposal and site decontamination and decommissioning will undoubtedly be a major contention in the licensing process.

NRC proceedings

The initial phase of the EIS process is "scoping," in which the topics that should be discussed in the draft EIS are identified. A public hearing was held on March 4 in Eunice, and written comments were submitted through March 18. The NRC staff, using the LES license application and the public comments will produce a draft EIS, which it expects to release in the fall. There will then be a public comment process, including a hearing, on the draft EIS.

By April 6, anyone who wants to participate in the quasi-judicial licensing process must file a "petition for leave to intervene." That document must specify why the person or organization is affected by the LES plant and what specific problems ("contentions") will be raised about the license application. Besides waste and financing issues, other concerns are likely to be included by the organizations that intervene in the licensing process.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Louisiana Energy Services: www.nefnm.com
Citizens Nuclear Information Center: www.CNIC.ws
Citizens for Smart Choices: www.stoples.org
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission: www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/licapp-envir-rpts.html