Misguided Nuclear-Waste Tactic : Wilson calls for a ban on shipping the material out of the state

Gov. Pete Wilson is exasperated with the slow pace at which California and the federal government are moving toward construction and operation of a low-level nuclear waste dump at Ward Valley in the Mojave Desert. Wilson is not alone in his belief that used radioactive materials accumulating at hundreds of hospitals, research labs and other facilities around the state need a permanent and safe home. However, a move by the governor, reported last week, seeking to prohibit the shipment of existing stockpiles to dump sites outside California is reckless and ultimately self-defeating.

Certainly Wilson hopes his proposal will raise the heat on Congress and the Interior Department to transfer the federal land on which the Ward Valley dump would be built.

The opening of a disposal facility in Utah last year and the reopening of one in South Carolina have allowed California facilities that generate low-level nuclear waste to ship their most hazardous materials out of the state. Wilson’s proposed ban would end those shipments in most cases.

Meanwhile, the current chairman and a past chairman of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission both recently stated that, due partly to advances in disposal practices, the United States needs no more than three or four disposal facilities, not the 14 or more under consideration. Three facilities are currently operational. Should Ward Valley be the fourth?

The firm licensed to run the Ward Valley dump, U.S. Ecology, is reported to be in serious financial difficulty, raising questions about its fitness as an operator. Meanwhile, key tests are about to get underway at the Ward Valley site to more precisely assess the risk that radioactive material could seep into ground water.

Wilson strenuously resisted federal requests that the state conduct those tests as part of a agreement to transfer the land to state control. His refusal led the Interior Department to authorize a federal lab to perform the tests and block the transfer of the federally owned land pending the results.

What reason does the Wilson administration offer for seeking to ban transfer of nuclear waste out of the state? An official of the state Department of Health Services offers only this: A ban would ensure a higher waste volume for Ward Valley and mean lower disposal costs for companies and institutions that eventually used the dump.

California may need the Ward Valley facility, but the people will be not well served if that dump is inherently unsafe. The state certainly should not be hoarding nuclear waste just to press for its construction.