Daily News, Jacksonville, North Carolina
Wednesday, November 26, 1997State seeks more time on funding deadline for dump
BY ESTES THOMPSON -- ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH -- Seeking time to fix a 1999 funding shortage, state officials made plans Tuesday for a possible shut down of a low-level radioactive waste dump project if money for it was cut off.
"I have a big concern because it looks like our backs are to the wall," said James Reddish, a member of the state Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Authority.
The authority voted 11-2 during a teleconference to ask the Southeast Compact Commission for time to consider a $7 million loan offer from several electric utilities that would use the dump. The commission doles out funds to develop the repository, planned to handle wastes from seven southeastern states.
Authority member Michael O'Foghludha dissented, saying he didn't think the Wake County site ever would be licensed by state nuclear safety regulators. Erin Kuczmarski voted no without comment.
Authority members also voted to authorize spending the $139,058 it would cost to put the project on hold in December if the commission cuts off funds. If money is cut off, the project may have to be stopped in January.
The state, its contractor and state radiation regulators have spent much of the past year reaching agreement on methods to study the site. The next step is to determine whether water flowing underground would carry radiation into drinking water sources.
The commission gave the state a Dec. 1 deadline to work out disagreements with the utilities over the loan terms or lose money already allocated. The commission has authorized $600,000 a month in spending on the project.
To date, some $100 million has been spent on the project with no future date to actually begin building the dump, which would consist of concrete casks surrounded by earthen berms. The $100 million comes from tax funds and fees paid by nuclear generators.
The current stumbling block is the loan.
The $7 million will be needed by May 1999 to continue studies of the site, which is owned by Carolina Power & Light Co. and Champion International. By that time, funds from the commission will be exhausted because of delays created by earlier disagreements between contract engineers and the state Division of Radiation Protection.
Authority Chairman Warren Corgan said the state wants the $7 million to be a gift. But the utilities, in a letter this week, said they can't do that.