Friday July 10 11:17 AM EDT

Nuclear disposal site stalled

WISCASSET, Maine, July 10 (UPI) - Maine Yankee's plans to ship radioactive waste from its nuclear power plant to Texas is temporarily stalled.

A Texan court has declared the proposed 477-acre site 5 miles southeast of the town of Sierra Blanca in West Texas to be unsuitable because it lies on a fault line.

The court noted the risk of an earthquake. It also said such a facility could have a negative impact on the region that already accepts sewage sludge from New York City.

Earlier, voters in Maine, Vermont and Texas approved a three-state compact to dispose of waste from Maine Yankee's Wiscasset nuclear plant to West Texas beginning next year.

Maine Yankee produces about 95 percent of the state's low-level radoactive waste. Hospitals, laboratories and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery account for the rest.

The Wiscasset plant is currently shipping some 800 cubic feet of low level waste annually to a site in Barnwell, S.C. It also has access to a second site in Utah.

But beginning next year Maine Yankee's needs will be greater as it begins to dismantle its nuclear plant. The process is expected to take six years and will yield more than 200,000 cubic feet of waste material.

The proposed Texas site appeals to Maine Yankee because rates would be cheaper - $100 per square foot, compared to $400 in South Carolina.

Maine Yankee would also lease some of the Texan facility to other producers of low-level waste to help recoup its costs.

The Texan Natural Resource Conservation Commission has final authority on licensing the site and is expected to come up with a decision this fall.

The general manager of the Texan waste disposal authority Rick Jacobi is optimistic that Maine Yankee will get its Texan site.

Jocobi says, "I believe this is a bump on the road. It might cost us a few weeks or months, but we will receive our license."

---