Is There a Quick Fix for
West Valley Demonstration Project?
(Or will our great grandchildren’s grandchildren still be dealing with it?)
By Lois Ann Zendarski (12/19/2008)

In a six year period between the mid 1960s to early 1970s, the reprocessing of spent fuel from atomic weapons and power production took place in Cattaraugus County. The reprocessing of over 600 metric tons was done by the Nuclear Fuel Services in West Valley, New York extracting the remaining uranium and plutonium. That which was unrecoverable underwent a process called vitrification which encased the radioactive material in glass rods or canisters, therefore preventing the spread of the radioactive elements.

The facility at West Valley was the only commercial reprocessing facility in the United States.
The reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels at West Valley resulted in approximately 600,000 gallons of liquid high-level waste which was typically stored in underground tanks. Other types of radioactively contaminated waste are also stored there.

Seismic activity in the region due to the close proximity of the site to the Clarendon-Lindon Fault line was identified and the plant was shut down in 1972 after it was determined that the cost of increasing the site’s seismic stability was cost prohibitive. An increase in capacity at the plant had been planned but four years later, Nuclear Fuel Services stopped the reprocessing and turned over control of the facility to the site’s owner, NYSERDA-New York State Research & Development Authority.

The Dept. of Energy and NYSERDA are still trying to figure out how to handle and/or diffuse the situation created at West Valley some three decades later in an attempt to decommission the facility. Leakage of radioactivity due to accidents or airborne elements have been noted for decades. Leaks have been found in and around the area and those within the property boundaries are needing containment and removal. Releases of radioactive and toxins into the groundwater have put residents at risk, especially those living in the town of Ashford, NY.

Both Cesium 137 and Strontium 90 are present on site. According to the Concerned Citizens of Cattaraugus County website, in a 1968 mishap, a ventilation filter was blown into the atmosphere and deposited pieces some several miles away. Additionally, Strontium 90 is moving 40-60 feet per year through the local groundwater and in 1994 emerged at the surface. Two streams that are on-site as well as the Cattaraugus Creek contain sediment contaminated with Cesium 137 and Strontium 90.

Waste buried in trenches capped with plastic continuously releases methane gas laced with H 3 (Tritium). Lagoons and settling ponds on the W. Valley site are visited regularly by both wildlife and local domestic animals. Although hunters are given the opportunity to have their wild game tested, very few take advantage of this opportunity.

The West Valley site’s license was suspended in 1981 to develop what is now known as the US Dept of Energy’s ‘West Valley Demonstration Project Act’. This project was to:

Carry out a liquid-high level waste management demonstration project
Solidify, transport, and dispose of the high level waste
Dispose of low-level waste and transuranic waste produced by the WVDP
Decontaminate and decommission facilities used for the WVDP, in accordance with requirements prescribed by Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The latest DEIS-Draft Environmental Statement dated November of 2008, for the decommissioning and /or long term stewardship at the West Valley Development Project & the Western New York Nuclear Service Center features 4 alternatives on how to deal with the conditions present at the West Valley site. The four alternatives as stated in the DEIS include:
Sitewide Removal. Under this alternative, all environmental media would be removed and decontaminated, all radioactive, hazardous, and mixed waste would be characterized, packaged as necessary, and eventually shipped off site for disposal. This alternative would generate waste for which there is currently no offsite disposal location. This “orphan” waste would be stored on site until an appropriate offsite facility is available. Completion of these activities would allow unrestricted use of the site for public and private use. The Sitewide Removal Alternative includes temporary onsite storage of vitrified high-level radioactive waste canisters while waiting for a Federal waste repository to open.

Sitewide Close-In-Place. Under this alternative, most facilities would be closed in place. Residual radioactivity in facilities with larger inventories of long-lived radionuclides would be isolated by specially designed closure structures and engineered barriers. Under the Sitewide Close-In-Place Alternative, major facilities and sources of contamination, such as the Waste Tank Farm and burial grounds, would be managed at their current locations. This would allow large areas of the site to be released for unrestricted use. Facilities that are closed in place, and any buffer areas around them, would require long-term stewardship.

Phased Decisionmaking (the Preferred Alternative). Under this alternative, decommissioning would be completed in two phases. Phase 1 would include removal of foundations, slabs or pads, the Main Plant Process Building, the source of the North Plateau Groundwater Plume, and lagoons. No decommissioning or long-term management activities would be conducted for the Waste Tank Farm and its support facilities, the Construction and Demolition Debris Landfill, the non-source area of the North Plateau Groundwater Plume. Present technologies and available waste disposal sites will be utilized to reduce the potential near-term health and safety risks from residual radioactivity and hazardous contaminants at the site. Additional studies and evaluations would be conducted to clarify and possibly reduce technical uncertainties related to the decision on final decommissioning. Taking up to 30 years, the DOE and NYSERDA also would seek information about improved technologies for in-place containment and for exhuming the tanks and burial areas that may have become available in the intervening years. Additional studies would be done and emerging technology developed. It may be determined that an additional Draft EIS would be necessary.

No Action. Under the No Action Alternative, no actions toward decommissioning would be
taken. The No Action Alternative would involve the continued management and oversight of
all facilities located on the WNYNSC property. Although this alternative is not applicable for this site, it is required in the DEIS.

Judith Einach, Director of the Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes writes in a recent email: “We have to state outright that we have DOE in Court because we believe the DEIS violates NEPA, or the National Environmental Policy Act. Federal Judges will decide this issue.”
 
She continues, “In the meantime we have a situation in which DOE wants to delay making a decision about the final outcome for the cleanup of the West Valley nuclear site. This site has the longest unresolved EIS in US history - over 20 years. Now, the DOE wants to give themselves another 30 years before they need to make a decision.”

Ms. Einach reports that independent consultants have performed studies at the site and have determined that a breach will occur sooner rather than later. Catastrophic consequences would add enormous costs to the cleanup. Present costs are estimated between $9-10 billion for a full cleanup of the site meaning removing the waste and shipping it off to a place that is not as erosion prone as Western New York. She says, “The Coaltion is not in favor of moving the problem elsewhere, but in this scenario, the current site is not appropriate for long term storage. The public has 6 months to comment on the DEIS. The Coalition will be holding a meeting, hopefully in January, to which the public will be invited. We’re the people who live with this site and with the danger. We’re the people who need to fight for those who will inhabit this land after we’re gone. We welcome everyone who wants to work with us to protect public health and safety now and into the future.”

Those in Western New York need to consider the catastrophic scenario of the radioactive contamination of the Great Lakes. Not only is drinking water affected, but the possibility of radioactive lake effect rain and snow would further distribute radioactivity. This, in turn would also bring about the likelihood of costly litigation between the United States and Canada.

The public is invited to comment on the Draft EIS, and all comments received which are postmarked no later than the end of the public comment period, June 8, 2009, will be addressed in preparing the
Final EIS. Public hearings on the Draft EIS will be held: Tuesday, March 31, 2009, Seneca Nation of Indians, William Seneca Building, 12837 Rte. 438, Irving, NY, Wednesday, April 1, 2009, Ashford Office Complex, 9030 Route 219, West Valley, NY, and Thursday, April 2, 2009, Clarion Hotel--McKinley’s Banquet and Conference Center, S-3950 McKinley Parkway, Blasdell, NY. Oral and written comments will be accepted at the public hearings.

For more information or notices on West Valley Coalition meetings, you can contact Ms. Einach at: jeinach@yahoo.com. 

Sources: DEIS prepared for the decommissioning of the site
Nuclear Information & Resource Service
Citizen’s Task Force-Judith Einach, President
www.concernedcitizens.homestead.com (the CCCC)

-