Myrtle Beach Sun
Published Monday, 7-3-00

N.C. Waste Project Is Officially Shut Down

By Scott Mooneyham
The Associated Press

Fourteen years and $120 million later, North Carolina's failed efforts to build a low-level radioactive waste dump for several states, including South Carolina, officially ended over the weekend.

Saturday was the date state lawmakers set for the state-mandated authority that had overseen the project to close up shop and secure the site along Wake-Chatham county border.

All that work was completed weeks before the deadline. ``They have secured the site, sealed the wells and archived the documents,'' said Rep. George Miller, D-Durham, N.C., who had served on the commission of the seven-state regional compact formed to develop the waste repository.

Lawmakers decided last summer to withdraw from the compact and close the site after concluding that the need for a radioactive dump had diminished over the years. North Carolina was chosen as the site for the dump in 1986, but state officials had become increasingly disillusioned with the project, wondering whether it would ever be completed.

The significance of the deadline effectively removing North Carolina from the business of radioactive waste handling wasn't lost on an environmentalist who had fought the project. ``It's a victory for the public in general. That project became more and more dangerous the more we found out about it,'' said Jim Warren of the N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network. ``As for the authority, I can't say I'm sad to see them go. Good riddance. It was a politically driven agency that chose a political site.''

Now, much of what remains of the project are 400 boxes of records, stored in the State Archives building. Soil and rock samples taken at the site have been turned over to the N.C. Geological Survey, according to the final report issued by the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Authority on June 20.

The report says the land has been turned back over to its three owners, the largest being Carolina Power & Light. Still, the legal issues surrounding the site likely aren't complete. The Southeast Compact Commission, which consists of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia, is expected to take legal action against North Carolina later this month.

At its last meeting, the commission ruled that North Carolina was out of compliance with the law that created the compact. The commission imposed a $10 million fine and wants the state to repay $80 million of the $120 million paid for site development. The commission authorized its attorneys to sue North Carolina if the money is not received by July 10. N.C. lawmakers have set no money aside in its budget to repay the money, and Miller has said he thinks the state was on firm legal ground in withdrawing from the compact.

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