ML19276H560
| ML19276H560 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Issue date: | 11/06/1979 |
| From: | NRC COMMISSION (OCM) |
| To: | |
| References | |
| REF-10CFR9.7 NUDOCS 7911290416 | |
| Download: ML19276H560 (29) | |
Text
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r NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION IN THE MATTER OF:
PRESS BRIEFING on
..Y1 CLEAR MEDICINE Place - Washington, D. C.
Date -
Tuesday, November 6, 1979 Pages 1-28 1423 201 Telephone:
(202)347-3700 ACE-FEDERAL REPORTERS,INC.
OfficialReporters 444 North Capitol Street a
MI 1
Washington, D.C. 20C01 N'
NATIONWIDE COVERAGE DAILY 7 91129 0 + s 6
1 1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 2
NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 3
4 5
6 PRESS BRT.EFING 7
8 9
DR. JOSEPH M.
HENDRIE Chairman, Nuclear Regulatory Commission 10 jj GOVERNOR DIXY LEE RAY Governor, State of Washington 12 GOVERNOR RICE RD RILEY 13 Governor, State of Sc/th Carolina ja GOVERNOR ROBERT LIST Governor, State of Nevada 15 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR HOWARD J.
DUGOFF 16 National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator 17 on 18 NUCLEAR MEDICINE 19 20 21 l
17 H Street, N.W.
22 1423
-)02 Washington, D. C.
23 Tuesday, Nove::Wer 6, 1979 24
-an tal Reporters, Inc. f 25 '
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MR. 000 CHARD:
Sorry to keep you waiting this 2
afternoon.
I believe Chairman Hendrie has an opening 3
statement, and then we will hear from the three governors.
4 So, Mr. Chairman, let us ge t underway.
5 CHAIRMAN HENDRIE:
Hi.
I am glad to see you all.
6 de have been having a meeting, as you know, on the subject 4
of low level waste, the problems that attend thereto, and 8
particularly the problems the three governors have who have sitas, not current sites for low level waste disposal.
10 There are a couple of points ? hat.I would like to 11 have the governors have a chance to talk to you --
12 The first point, and perhaps the most important, 13 is that we simply have a shortage of low level waste 14 disposal capacity in this country and the sites that are 15 still operating or current are getting it all.
16 And that constitutes an unf air and unreasonaole Il situa tion for them.
There are 47 other states in the union 13 which enjoy the benefits of the nucle ar medicine services, 19 the industrici activities, the power production of nuclear 23 technology.
And those states have a responsibility, either 21 indiv idually or in regional groupings, to provide additional 22 low level waste disposal capacity.
23 dith regard to some of the current near-term 24 problems that the governors have been discussing with me.
25 there have been proolems at each of the sites with regard to 1423 003 M9
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improperly packaged low level waste material.
2 We have had, since the governors wrote me in July, 3
an increased inspection and enforcement activity in 4
conjunction with the Department of Transportation.
5 The governors have reminded me to get on with that 6
in a more vigorous f ashion, and we are going to be pressing s
that inspection and enforcement function very hard to make 8
sure that low level nuclear waste materials that are shipped 9
are properly packaged according to Department of 10 Transportation regulations and NRC regulatio.ns.
11 With regard to a current very serious situation in,
12 the nuclear medicine area, the recent closure of the site in 13 Washington, Governor Ray's state, brougnt aoout by the 14 receipt of improperly packaged materials up there which 13 raised in the governor's mind some questions about how --
15 about the kinds of things that were ceing shipped in.
17 I have asked Governor Ray to please give the most 18 serious consideration to the urgent national, literally 19 emergency, situation in nuclear medicine.
20 The nuclear medicine techniques are very widely 21 used, are very important health bene fits, literally 22 life-saving measures in some cases.
23 There.is an acute shortage of disposal capacity 24 for the waste s f rom nuclear medicine, and I have asked 25 Governor Ray to please give the most serious consideration 1423 004 0
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to see if the State of Washington could not respond to those 2
needs and consider re-opening the Hanford site while we work
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3 forward to. developing a more low level vaste disposal 4
capacity distributed on a regional oasis.
5 The Department of Transportation, Mr. Howard 6
Dugof f is here representing Transportation, and I have 7
comitted to Governor Ray some assistance in terms of 8
perso nnel, f ederal personnel, and in terms of some contract 9
assistance to the State of Washington to help bridge a 10 period of time between possible reopening of that site and a 11 time when Washington State personnel could be fully trained 12 to ca rry out the inspections that the sta te believes are 13 necassary at that site.
14 And so we would hope to be able to help in 15 providing a bridging capability there.
16 I~ think that covers the essential points that I 14 Wanted to make and what I would like to do is to get off the 13 rostrum and let you talk to the governors.
Gove rnor List 19 has an urgent appointment, and so we promised to let him 23 speak first.
21 GOVERNOR LIST: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
22 You procaoly all recall that we were one of those 23 three sites until several weeks ago when we closed it, due 24 to a numoer of factors, including the manner in which it was 25 operated, but also including the fact that we did not have 1423 005 1MI
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control over the packaging and the shipment of materials 2
that were coming in to us in a very sloppy condition.
3 For several months I have been, together with 4
C 'c ?rnors Riley and Ray, bringing all the leverage and all 5
the stress that we could to bear on the f ederal agencies 6
responsi' le for those functions.
o I
Frankly, it's been very, very slow in coming.
8 Today, again, we have heard a commitment from Dr. Hendrie, 9
and I hope that he can fulfill that commitment and that the la White House and that the Congress and that the other 11 agencies of this Administration will recognize and respond 12 to the urgent needs in this country to develop a f ail-saf e 13 polic y.
14 We are capable of doing it.
' e heard today about d
15 shortages of manpower.
We, as governors, are prepared, 16 whether my ' site ever reopens or not, I am prepared as a le govarnor to stand behind a request for additional manpower 18 if that's wnat it takes.
19 de're talking about 100 million Americans who are 20 the recipients of medical treatment or diagnostic treatment 21 which uses the isotopes that we are dealing with here.
22 de're not talking simply acout exotic nuclear 23 power plants and the disposal of waste from them.
It's time 24 the American public understood that we are talking aoout the 23 county hospital, or the hospital that's located down the
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road that your aunt or your uncle or your nephew or your 2
niece or your children or your parents depend upon for 3
life-saving purposes.
4 The medical community also has an enormous 5
responsibility to see to it that tha material is properly 6
packaged in their f acilities, in their institutions, in the i
research.lacoratories.
8 Let's face it -- if they did their job, there
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wouldn't be a need for the kinds of concerns that we have 10 devoted so much time to in recent weeks.
So I think as governors we want to pass the 12 message to tnem that it's time they assumed more 13 self-discipline and more responsibilty at their level 14 instead of expecting the governors and the Federal 15 Government and ultimately, the public, the traveling public 15 on the highways, to bear the risk and have.the saf ety f actor 17 and potential for disaster working against them.
13 We in the State of Nevada intend to keep our site 19 closeo, frankly, for some of the reasons I've stated, but 20 also because of some of the manners in which it has been 21 ope ra ted.
22 But if either it's ordered reopened by a court or 23 some other entity over which I have no control, I'm going to 24 assure you that I'm going to continue to push to see tha t 25 the f ederal agencies follow out their commitments.
I have
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been very disappointed in their performance so f ar.
2 Hopefully, now that the attention of the nation's 3
mecical fraternity has been obtained, we will have more 4
re sponsivene s s.
5 Finally, I think a word needs to be said about the 6
fact that it really is time that we quit traipsing oack and 7
forth acrosr this country with thousands of truckloads 3
annually of this material when it can be disposed of nearby 9
in the communities where it's generated.
10 It's time that the governors, our f ederal 11 governors in this country, recognize the need and work with 12 their state health departments to create state-by-state
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13 dispo sal. sit es.
9 14 It's not necessary to travel across our interstate 15 highway systems with these materials when it can be disposed 15 of very saf ely and very securely near to the point at which 11 they are generated.
18 And I would hope that that point is also observed il and taken into account by them.
And I will work for that 20 whether we have a site or not.
21 Thank you very much.
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GOVERNOR RILEY:
Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.
2 I would say that we in South Carolina recognize that a 3
period of years of involvement at our Barnwell site, 4
handling low level nuclear wastes, gives us some national 5
re spo nsibili ty.
Ne are aware that we are going to certainly 6
try to live up to it.
We have had the unfortunate 7
classification, in the parlance of the f ootball season, of 8
being number one for a number of months, and I am sad to say 9
that we are in the classification now of the only one.
I 13 don't like that.
I don't think it's fair.
And I have 11 certainly expressed ' e fore that I am going to do what I can o
12 as Governor to see that that is in a responsible way shif ted 13 to an appropriate responsibility f rom state to state.
14 This being an agency which is an independent 15 regulatory agency -- of course, I realize it's not the place 16 where we can work out the long-term solution of arriving at 17 additional curial sites for low level nuclear wastes.
I 18 have my ideas about that.
I think each state should be 19 responsible for their own, and I don' t think that we can do 20 that lega lly, myself, until such time as we have fede ral 21 legislation to specify that.
22 The agreement state provision, as is now the law, 23 is more or less a permissiv? type thing, as I understand i.,
24 f or the states who qualify to have the cpportunity to have a 25 low level burial site in the ir stata.
I think the times make N
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make that aosolutely inoperativa.
And no state, relatively, 2
no state is going to take that opportunity to develop a 3
sita, as I see it, unless they're pre tty w211 required to do 4
it.
5 I think a requirement that every state be 6
responsible for their own low level nuclear waste is fair.
t Every state pr7 duces it.
It makes good sense, as Governor 8
List said, it avoids the long transportation, and I think 9
that's what we ought to be moving towards.
And the federal 10 government, of course, being responsible for high level 11 waste.
12 In this particular meeting, we talked in detail 13 about f actors of enf orcement, of inspection, of monitoring.
14 We, I think, got some good assurances tnat that's going to 15 improve.
I certainly have not been satisfied with it, ano I 15 don't think' the other gove rnors have, that are here.
de le think that in addition there is going to be a bi-monthly 13 inspection report which has been put into ope ration.
And il that's good, so that we can know what is taking place and 20 what the results are.
21 I think we have gotten some er nmitments for 22 demonstration and training contracts with the state; some 23 assis tance f or the f ederal government to go to agreement 24 state s that are trying to do part of their responsioility in 25 a good way; to supervise its to provide some finances to
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)/ 02 03 10 kap /M4 help us with that job.
i 2
We have gotten some understandings, I think, that 3
NRC is going to try to ease the licensing time and the 4
procedures will be attempted to say to the states that if 5
you are desirous of having a site, we are going to come in 6
and try to help you get that done quickly, to avoid a three-7 or four year period of hearings, of what have you.
8 I want to mention finally that we reported to NRC 9
through their chairman that we in South Carolina have put in 10 operation a certificate of compliance wherein every 11 generator of nuclear waste has to, with every shipment, 12 properly define the shipment and sign a statement that they 13 have complied with all of the rules and regulations 14 pertinent to them.
This is the first time that we as a 15 state will have privity with the generator themselves, and I 15 think that's very important.
14 de have also put in ef fect what we call a 18 certificate of deposit, wherein every generetor of low level h?
nuclear wasts that wants to do business with Barnwell must 20 o btain a cer tificate bef ore we do business with them.
If 21 they violate the rules and regulations af ter notice, or 22 vio'a tions are of such an issue to ce serious, then we, -f 23 cours e, can cancel the cerificate of deposit and that then 24 means that there would be no shipment from that generator to 25 our s ta te.
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107 02 04 11 k ap/W4 And then we have the mutual suspension agreement 2
between Nevada, dashington state and South Carolina, wherein 3
a cancellation of a certificate of deposit would be honoreo 4
by a ll '.hres states, so a person or company could not 3
violate, get suspended, or revoke their certificate and then 6
move to another state.
I da've had very good cooperation among the three 8
states.
Pie appreciate the hearing, the discussion, the 9
frank discussion tnat we've had with the Chairman.
10 11 12 13 6TL g4 15 16 Il 18 19 20 21 2:
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GOVERNOR RAY:
It looks like I am in the mop-up 2
position.
I would like to say, first of all, just a word of 3
apology for wearing these dark glasses.
For the last couple 4
of weeks I have been suffering from rather severe eyestrain 5
due to too much bright television light.
Those of you who 6
havan't had to,be on this side of the podiwn, I think, can't i
procably appreciate how severe and bright those lights are, 8
and eventually the old eyes give up.
Hence, I will make a 9
plea that as soon as it's possible, I would hope that those 10 who are operating the lights cut there can t. urn them off.
11 If you can, I will take off the shades.
12 All tight, let me say that I support and agree 13 with what has been said by my colleagues, Governors List and 14 Riley, with respect to the, tuation as it now stands, 15 South Carolina is the only state pres ently receiving 16 low-level w'aste.
And I want to empnasize Governor Riley's il position that South Carolina has been bearing the major 13 portion of this burden.
Historically, South Carolina has 19 been receiving aoout 80 parcent of the na tion's lov-level 20 commercially generated nuclear waste, and that is an unfair 21 portion.
22 We in the State of Washington are well aware of 23 the need for additional sites, and we support very strongly 24 the. developments of regional sites or, perhaps even ce tter, 25 that every s tate f ace up to its responsibility, recognizing 1423 013 g
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that it generates waste and has responsibility for doing 2
something aoout them.
It's been mentioned that in the 3
nucisar medicine field alone, 100 million Americans are 4
constantly at the present time under treatment or diagnosis 5
with various types of procedures or equipment involving 6
radioisotopes, radiopharmaceuticals, and radiation i
equipment.
That means it adds up to about 274,000 people 8
per day whose health -- in many cases, whose very lives --
9 are dependent r;on the continuation ol' these procedures.
10 It is a heavy responsibility for this nation to assure that the resulting waste which -- I must emphasize --
12 or such things as rubber gloves, aprons, and protective 13 clothing, hypodermic needles, pieces of ruboer tubing, 14 scissors, swabs, all tho.ce kinds of things, just go to a 15 properly designated place for proper handling.
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15 And I would urge, althcugh I know it is futile, as 11 you report and write your stories, please try to avoid the la word " dump. "
It has all the connotation of irresponsibility 19 that we ao r.ot like.
The word " site" has just the same 20 numoer of le tters in it, so that it will fit headlines just 21 as well, and the low-level radioactive materials are 22 m anag ed, they are handled, they are s tored, they are taken 23 care of, thay are kept under surveillance, all those kinds 24 of things.
They are not just -
quote -- dumped.
It will 25 help a great deal with the public's perception that this is
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a responsiole activity and a necessary one.
2 This morning, before we me t with the Nuclear 3
Regulatory Commission Washington group, which *qcludes 4
Dr. Nelp, sitting up here in the front row, who is the 5
chairman of the nuclear medicine department at the 6
University of Washington, and our state director of office 7
of anergy, met with the Federal Department of Energy and 8
secured a commitment from the deputy, Mr. John Sawhill, that 9
he will do everything he can to work with the state to help 10 us re solve questions where we can, we hope, cegin to operate 11 in the near future, particularly for the important f unction 12 of providing a site for the nuclear medicine materials tnat 13 are now being stored temporarily and are beginning to stack is up at hospitals, universitias, research laboratories, and so 15 on around the country.
16 I'might also add this means the carcasses of Is experimental animals that are used to davelop our knowledge 18 and improve our understanding of biological, physiological, h7 medical prac tices.
He has indicates that he will issue a 20 statement on behalf of the Federal Department of Energy 21 urging the State of Washington to provide this service for 22 the nation as an important national need and in the national 23 interest at the present time.
24 There have been similar commitments both f rom NRC 23 and the Department of Transportation.
I believe this is 1423 015
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important because the citizens of our state need to oe 2
assured that in using a portion of our state to haul these 3
materials, we are not simply giving up our responsioilities 4
and oecoming a garbage area.
5 We are discussing with the responsible federal 6
officials conditions that we f eel are necessary for us to be 7
able to function, and, like South Carolina and Nevada, have 8
already done, we will be putting in a system of permits for 9
the use of the site and certification of those who generate 10 the waste to assure that the things will be properly 11 packaged before they are sent to us.
We will have state 12 inspection at our borders for compliance with procer 13 pac'< aging, and we will inspect on the site.
14 We are expecting to work closely with the 13 Department of Transportation to provide some assistance.
16 Also with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to provide some 14 training for our state people, aad to assist us in this la important step in getting ready for a better 11 admin is tra tion.
22 If all these things fall into place -- and we 21 shall work very hard on them -- then I think we can say that 22 we will consider seriously naking the site availaola, 23 particularly for the nuclear medicine ma t e ri al s.
I am not 24 making a commitment as to a specific date, and I am not 25 making an assurance that we will do that.
I am saying tnat 1423 016
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if we are aole to put all these tht.igs into place and work 2
out the administrative procedures, we will move 3
exped itiousl y.
I know the situation is critical and we must 4
find a resolution for it -- not within months or weeks, but 5
within days.
6 Ynis, however, is the short-term problem.
We need i
an interim solution pending the resolution of '.he very 8
serious proolem which I think now people are beginning to 9
realize mora and more s that states all generate nuclear 10 waste of this type, and states all have some 11 responsibility.
12 So, we will continue to work with the federal 13 authorities and with the represer.tatives f rom other states 14 to try to move to a situation where there will be regional 15 sites or an additional number of state sites.
16 Thank you very much.
I will be glad to take some il questions.
IS QUESTI0d Governor Ray, what do you think the 19 reaction of the other states is going to be to your appeal 20 that they snare some of the responsioilities?
21 GOVERNOR RAY:
I don't believe taat I am in an/
22 position to ce able to speculate on what the reaction fro.n 23 other states may ce.
I am aware that there are some states 24 that already have state laws that specifically foroid th?m 25 to store racioactive materials within their own boundaries.
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And in some states chere will be a necessary action to 2
repeal those laws before they will be aole to assume thei r 3
own responsibilities.
4 QUEST 10N:
Aside from the laws, wha t other reasons 3
are there for why some states should not do this?
Are there 6
geological or other reasons why some states should not do
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it?-
8 GOVERNOR RAY:
Again, it would be hard for me to 9
respond on behalf of all states.
Whe ther we need every 10 single state to have its own respository, I think, is open to question.
12 If we could get cooperation on a regional casis,
13 then the best site could be picked within various ragions.
14 It has been proposed that 12 such regional sites mignt be 15 appropriate for the country as a whole, and I woula tend to d
35 personally " support that.
Il But I think it's extremely important that every IS state f ace up to the f act that it is a generator of nuclear 19 waste, would be willing to cooperate witn the states that 20 perhaps have a site that could be used, and recognize and 21 ac::nowlecge that they make the stuff, they've got to help 22 take care of it one way or another.
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GOVERNOR RILEY:
I think it ought to be pointed 2
out that the technology involved in handling low level 3
nuclear waste is not'high technology.
I think it's 4
important for us to realize that it's a rather simple 5
procedure, and if properly supervised by the NRC, it's a 6
matter that I think can be handled oy every state if the/
4 have to.
I think it would be better to get into compacts a
within state s so we can have a regional site -- we're 9
willing to do that in South Carolina -- to handle the waste 10 for North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and wnat have you.
11 But I think the f act is, the big reason way every 12 state cannot ge t into i' or doesn't get into it is 13 political.
It's as simply as that, and that's a real 14 f ac to r.
But that's the reason in my Judgment.
15 QUESTION:
Governor, there's a bill on Capitol 16 Hill which kould allow creation of at least or as many as 12 17 regional low level waste burial grounds to be owned and IS operated by the Federel Government.
Would you support taat i9 bill?
20 GOVERNOR RILEY:
No, sir.
I think that low level 21 nucle ar waste should be determined to be the responsiblit ty 22 of the state.
I think the Federal Gr rernment then should 23 take the responsioility of high level waste and should 24 proceed over a period of two or three years.
I would lite 25 to see a law that Congress instruct JOE to, over a three 1423 019
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year period, determine the cest possible site in the United 2
States, regardless of where it is, cased on geological 3
f actors, demographic, environmental, or whatever, and order 4
them to acquire such a site or use f ederal property, if it's i
available, to get the high level thing going.
6 The United States has got to re solve that.
I
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think for tne Federal Government to then come in and take 8
this situation, you then get in the quastion of what 12 9
s to te s?
And the same problem arises on the floor of 10 Congress as how, you're not going to pick my state, and all 11 49 states fight it, and South Carolina is getting it.
And I 12 think the only f air way to do it is to say that every state 13 is ra sponsiole, and then let the states proceed to work out 14 the agreements.
I think you would end up with soa.e 12, 14 15 sites.
16 QUESTI0ti:
Governor, how long are you going to let le South Carolina continue the way the situation is now?
Ho w IS long are you going to continue to wait for Washington, 19 Nevada --
20 GOVERNOR RILEY:
Je're on schedule.
I will start 21 serving in January of this year.
I set out a sys te ma tic 22 approach to it.
The first thing we're going to do is 23 proceed to get the price right -- One old American system.
24 That's always a factor.
That has something to do with it.
25 Me have done that.
We have renegotiated the 1423 020-
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lease.
We nave -- the pric? has gone from 16 cents per 2
cubic f oot to 55 cents.
Next April, it goes to 75.
April a 3
year from then it goes to a dollar.
4 I think that's tha first thing you have to do --
5 is to get that worked out.
Then, tha t caused some ripples, 6
of course.
s After that, we systematically then proceeded to 8
change our license whereby we are going to, not aoruptly, 9
not to upset everything in the country, but to 10 systematically month by month decrease the amount, the 11 volume of tne nuclear waste low level that we're going to 12 take at our site.
Two, over a period of two years, we'ra 13 going to cut it down f rom wna t it is now at some 200,000 14 cubic f eet a month to around approximately i CO,000 cubic 15 f ee t a month.
16 de have already pa ssed that license chang 3 on to Ie Chem Nuclear.
That's the operator.
And that schedule is in IS e ff ec t.
19 So we are not changing what we are doing cased on 23 dhat's happening elsewhere.
de are going to try to maintain 21 control of this situation and systematically respond to i t.
22 QUESTION:
How many hundrad thousand cubic f eet a 23 year are there of low lev-'. nuclear wastes, epproximately?
24 GOVERNOR RILEY:
We had aoout 85 percent of all, 25 and we were getting at one point in time 230 to 240 thousand 1423 02I
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cubic f eet a month.
We levaled that off early in the summer 2
to not more than two million, four or 200,000 per month, 3
2,400,000 pe r year.
So, whatever that -- 80 percent of 100 4
would be approximately that, Joe?
3 MR. FOUCHARD:
The answer i s, I believe, about 3 6
million cuoic f eet.
t QUESTION:
How is low level waste defined in terms 8
of cubic feet per foot or however?
9 GOVERNOR RILEY:
Governor Ray might define that 10 be tte r.
It's my understanding that high level is defined as 11 anything within the nuclear cycle of the nuclear power 12 process, and low level is anything else.
I know Governor 13 Ray has some very pertinent statements acout how difficult 14 it is to define low level nuclear waste.
And you can get in 15 a lot of arguments.
16 I'think it needs to be defined, as be s t we c an.
I is think it's very important.
18 QUESTION:
Go rernor Ray, wouldn't it be a great
!9 incentive to bring aoout the other state re spons icili ti es 20 that you want to bring about if you refused to reopen?
21 GOVERNOR RAY:
How soon do yc want your hospitals 22 to close?
23 QUESTION:
I'm just asking you.
As a techniqua 24 that you might encourage them to do what you want tham to 25 do.
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GOVERNOR RAY:
de have been engaged in that since 2
0:tober 4.
I think we are ceginning to get a consideraole 3
amount of attention.
The fact of the matter is very 4
widespread.
I think we hava to make a judgment pretty soon 5
on the relative value of continuing pressure by having no 6
place to send the waste -- or only South Carolina, let us i
say. -- and the value of the various lives, the health of 8
people involved.
9 QU ESTION:
Governor Ray, have you never taken this 10 up at governors' conf erences or other places where you and il your colleagues meet?
12 GOVERNOR RAY:
Often.
13 QUESTION:
You get no reaction?
What happens?
14 GOVERNOR RAY:
Not at all.
The Na tional 15 Governors' Association has an Energy Standing Committee and 16 a Nuclear Energy Succommittee, and the governors have gone 17 on record in support of responsible handling of nuclear la waste.
It's not dif ficult to do, you know, to go on record.
19 QUESTION:
Have they accepted the individual 20 responsibility in principle for each state?
21 GOVERNOR RAY:
I think from a practical point of 22 view you must recognize that politically it's not really 23 possible for any governor to stand up and say, "Let me take 24 its send me your poor, your unwanted 25 (Laughter.)
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GOVERNOR RAY:
Isn' t that trt Steve?
That's 2
Mr. Steve Farber, the Executive Directo, f the National 3
Governors' Association.
However, I think having brought the 4
situation rather forcibly to people's attention, I think we 5
are going to have consideraoly more interest in trying to 6
work out a solution.
t QUESTION:
Governor Riley, how about some states S
that don't nave anything to do whatsoever with nuclear 9
generation, specifically at the 8-state TVA area.
It's a 10 f ederal concern, and the states don't really, have any 11 jurisdiction in that area.
How can you now ask them to go 12 in and accept this responsibility, which would have to 13 involve a cnange in f ederal charter, wouldn't it?
14 GOVERNOR RILEY:
Every state has low level nuclear 15 waste.
Every state.
If you go into the hospitals, the 16 unive rsities, X-ray machines, all of the diff erent uses of Il nuclear that are very important.
So when you say every 18 state shoulo be responsiole f or their own, I don't see that 19 as any complication.
It's not a question of some states 20 have it and some don' t.
They all have it.
21 With regard to the governors, let me say -- of 22 course none of us can speak f or other Governors -- out in my 23 judgment, I think the governors of this nation of all the 24 s tates would welcome a statement On the part of Congress 25 that every state has to ce responsiale for their own waste.
1423 024
24 37 04. 07 mgcNN I
It would clarify the si tuation.
Everybody generally wants 2
to do the ra sponsible thing, and the obvious fairness of it 3
smacks you in the face.
4 QUESTION:
Governor Ray, if it happens that the 5
sort of procedures that you have talked about instituting 6
here which would be necessary for reopening the site are not i
instituted to your satisfaction, what then?
8 GOVERNOR RAY:
We would work hard to gat them so 9
the/ would oe satisf actory.
10 QUESTION:
Are the re other alterna tives?
11 GOVERNOR RAY:
Yes.
The other alterna tiva is to 12 k eep it closed.
13 QUESTION:
Is there an alternative such as the NRC 14 declaring puolic health and safety -- public health and 15 safety emergency, and then using DOE sites in your stata and 16 others?
Il GOVERNOR RAY:
No, sir, becan:e we believa that we 18 are proceeding in a responsible fasnion, anu we would not 19 tolerate an cierride of what we are trying to do.
20 MR. FOUCHARD:
I promised the gove rnors to get 21 them out of here in some reasonacia time, so let~s two more, 22 in the interests of the governors' time and Governor Ray's 23 eyesight.
I think I f ailed on the latter point.
24 Stan?
25 QUESTION:
Governor Ray, and I'd also like to
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07 04 08 25 mgc MM i
addre ss this to Chairman Hendrie, we have a past head of the 2
AEC and present head of the NRC.
I'd like to ask you 3
something that puz:*les me about this.
4 The gove.rnors are describing these low level 5
wastes as a burden which should be shared by the states and 6
as po ssioly something that ought to be kept off the highways 7
and kept within the states rather than being transported 8
inter state.
And Chairman Handrie seems to agree with this 9
attitude that this is something that the sta tes ought to 10 share out.
Il nnat I don't understand is how great a hazard you 12 think these wastes are.
Is it not safe to transport them, 13 and is it not saf e to dispose of th em, and if it is, then 14 where's the burden ?
15 GOVERNOR RAY:
Very we ll.
I'll be very happy to 16 try to give'a response to that, and I might just point out le that in the case of treatment, let's say, with a la radioisotope for some type of proole1, the pa tient will get 19 a bou t 99 percent of the radioactivity into his own body.
He 23 does not constitute a hazard, either to himself or to 21 anyoody around him.
But that one percent tha t's lef t in the 22 testtubes, the rubber tubing, the gloves, the stopper and so 23 on and so on, that constitutes the hazardous low level 24 waste.
25 So you know from a purely scientific and technical 1423 026 m
07 04 09 26
. mgc NN 1
point of view, the amount of hazard is very, very, very 2
slight.
3 QUESTION :
But that's --
4 GOVERNOR RAY:
Let me finish.
I'm not finished 5
'with my response yet, please.
5 Moreover many of these materials of biological use i
have very short half-lives and need to be stored only from a 8
few months to a year or two, and their radioactivity is 9
completely gone.
So it doesn't cons titute the kind of high to hazard that many of the long-lived materials from the it weapons program or the nuclear power program do.
The 12 problem and the ourden is in the puolic's perception, and it
\\
13 is very real.
14 And the public is convinced that any amount of la radioac tivity is bad.
It doesn't matter what the source 16 is.
The puolic does not understand that raaicacitivity is 11 all around us and is used in all these procedures all the 18 time.
And f ear, even if it is ungrounded, is just as real, 19 and that is the burden.
20 21 22 23 24 25 1423 027
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QUESTION:
You once said that your state ELTZER 2
would be the ultimate repository for the low-level waste' 3
from Three Mile Island.
4 What would.it take to satisfy you so that could 5
go on?
6 GOVERNOR RAY:
We had been receiving, until 7
October 4th when I closed the site, we had been receiving a 8
considerable amount of low-level waste from Three Mile 9
Island.
I 10 It is, let us say, an irony of the existing 11 situation that those materials are trucked all the way across 12 the United States for disposal.
They consist "of such 13 things as the protective clothing that people wear when 14 they are cleaning up, some of the instruments, the swabs, 15 the wipeup rags and all that kind of thing.
16 But just the puttino of the tag, Three Mile Island 17 on them, makes the public believe that they are highly is hazardous.
i i9 QUESTION:
There is a considerabie amount of 20 what they call " jelly beans" enroute from the treatment of 21 water.
Do you still intend to receive those?
l' 22 GOVERNOR RAY:
The water treatment material has l
23 }. to be stored someplace, and there are only a very few places -
24 in fact,there's only one place tnat it could go.
That f
one neoonm. ine.,
25 '
would be Scuth Carolina.
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28 5 mm2 1
But there we are, that's the problem.
2 MR. FOUCHARD: "' hank you very much.
3 (Whereupon, at 2:25 p.m.,
the pres briefing 4
was concluded.)
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