Wednesday, February 10, 1999
Omaha World Herald
State Faces New Tactic on Nuclear Waste
BY JASON GERTZEN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITEROmaha Public Power District board members said Tuesday that it is time for the state to provide storage for the radioactive waste generated by Nebraska' nuclear power plants and hospitals.
"The state has a legal obligation to provide a waste site," said OPPD board member John Green.
The years-long controversy over a proposed storage warehouse in Nebraska's Boyd County appears to be taking a new turn.
The OPPD board on Thursday will consider a resolution intended to increase the pressure on state officials. It calls on them to fulfill Nebraska's obligation under federal law to provide for disposal of the contaminated clothing, tools, equipment and resins generated by nuclear power plants, hospitals and research facilities.
Gov. Mike Johanns said he welcomed OPPD's ideas, but he does not intend to act on the matter soon.
"The governor is anxious to work with OPPD to solve Nebraska's nuclear-waste issues," said Chris Peterson, Johanns' spokesman. "The governor believes there is a dialogue that needs to occur."
State Sen. Ed Schrock of Elm Creek said he doesn't see a need to build a radioactive-waste warehouse anywhere in Nebraska.
Schrock, chairman of the Legislature's Natural Resources Committee, would play a key role in the consideration of any radioactive-waste measures.
He said it was up to Nebraska's utilities to make the case that the state needed a storage site.
The radioactive-waste issue has been dominated over the years by a focus on the licensing of a proposed storage facility in Boyd County and Nebraska's participation in a five-state compact.
The state recently denied a license for the Boyd County site because of concerns about possible groundwater contamination.
A call for Nebraska to pull out of the radioactive waste-disposal compact appeared to receive renewed momentum with a legal opinion given to the Legislature in January that said the state could withdraw without penalty.
The OPPD board will consider a resolution Thursday that says the utility won't provide more than the $12.1 million it already has contributed toward the license review for the proposed project in Boyd County.
The resolution also urges the state to provide for disposal of the waste at the earliest possible date. The licensing process for the Boyd County site began more than a decade ago.
"We have gotten nowhere in the last 12 years," Green said.
Green said OPPD is not challenging the state's denial of the license, nor is he focusing on whether the state should stay in the compact.
The process should begin immediately to find a new site, Green said. The state could do this on its own, or it could continue to work with the compact, he said.
"The utilities of this state have a crying need," Green said.
OPPD operates a nuclear power plant in Fort Calhoun. The Nebraska Public Power District has a nuclear plant in Brownville. They generate the bulk of the low-level radioactive waste in Nebraska.
Board member Fred Ulrich said that while OPPD was willing to wait during the licensing process, it is now time for the state to take action.
"We want to encourage the state to fulfill its responsibilities," Ulrich said.
The NPPD board might discuss the issue during its meeting later this week, a spokesman said.