Tuesday, December 23, 1997

Legislators see little support for reviving radioactive dump

by Dennis Patterson
Associated Press

RALEIGH -- A state agency's decision to halt development of a low-level radioactive waste dump in Wake County means the project is dead, legislative leaders say.

''It's not even on life support,'' Sen. Fountain Odom, D-Mecklenburg, the co-chair of the legislative Environmental Review Commission, said Monday. ''Sometimes you reach a point where you have to say, 'Pull the plug. Goodbye.'''

The state Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Authority voted Friday to halt development of the facility, which would dispose of radioactive waste from seven Southeastern states.

Some authority officials indicated they might seek additional funding from the Legislature, but Odom and Rep. Rick Eddins, R-Wake, the other co-chairman of the ERC, said there is little sentiment to spend more on the project.

In the 10 years the state has been developing the dump, more than $100 million has been spent on the project. To date, work at the site has consisted of drilling some test wells and testing soil.

Even if the site is ever deemed suitable, construction is still years away. Before the authority voted to shut down development of the project, the latest target date for opening a dump was 2001. The estimated construction cost was $75 million.

''It's money down a hole,'' said Eddins. ''The site was wrong to start with.''

''How can you spend $100 million and have nothing to show for it?'' Odom asked. ''There's probably a big pile of paper, but that's it.

''Even if this committee (the ERC) had a checkbook and could write them a check, I doubt it would,'' he said. Any approval for additional funding would have to come from the full Legislature, which does not meet again until May.

The shutdown came after the Southeast Compact Commission, a panel created by Congress to oversee nuclear waste disposal in the region, cut off funds for the project.

The commission said the state should consider accepting a $7 million loan from a group of electric utility firms to fill a funding gap expected in 1999. Gov. Jim Hunt said the state couldn't agree to the loan because the authority didn't have revenue to repay it.

North Carolina has spent about $40 million since it was selected to host the next regional dump. Hunt said it was time other states chipped in.

States in the compact are Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. South Carolina, which opened the first dump under the compact, was a member but dropped out when it became frustrated with North Carolina's progress.

The repository would handle wastes ranging from used reactor parts to lab gloves and rags.