[NukeNet] Help stop radwaste import--support HR 5632

[Michael Mariotte]

STOP THE IMPORT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTE!

 

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE AND URGE SUPPORT FOR HR 5632

 

Should the United States be a dumping ground for other countries'
nuclear waste?

While the answer would seem obvious to most, EnergySolutions--the
largest commercial nuclear waste dump in the U.S.--thinks otherwise.  

The company has asked the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for
permission to import 20,000 tons of low-level nuclear waste from defunct
nuclear reactors in Italy.  The waste would be shipped through ports in
South Carolina and Louisiana, incinerated in Tennessee, and then some of
the waste would be sent to EnergySolutions' low-level nuclear waste dump
in Utah for disposal.

Besides being the largest proposal of its kind, and the first time a
company has specifically asked to dispose large quantities of foreign
generated nuclear materials in the U.S., the plan would also set a
precedent for the U.S. to become the world's nuclear waste dump.

That is why Congressmen Bart Gordon (D-TN), Jim Matheson (D-UT), and Ed
Whitfield (R-KY) have introduced bipartisan legislation--HR 5632
<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c110:./temp/~c110jIEHDq>  --to
ban the importation of low-level radioactive waste into the United
States.

HR 5632 is important not only to prevent EnergySolutions from opening
the door to foreign nuclear waste disposal in the U.S., but also to
preserve our country's ability to handle our own low-level nuclear waste
disposal needs.

A House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee will hold a hearing on this
bill next Tuesday, May 20th.  

Please call your House member at 202-224-3121 and ask him/her to support
this bill. Doesn't it feel good to be able to urge support for a nuclear
bill? Let's get this legislation moving through the House and then on to
the Senate!


Already, the Governors of Utah and Wyoming, a regional oversight
committee called the Northwest Interstate Compact, and thousands of
citizens have spoken out against EnergySolutions' proposal.

It is clear that it was never the intent of state or federal law to
allow for the disposal of foreign nuclear waste in the U.S., but
EnergySolutions is exposing a loophole that could allow for this to
happen and open the door for much more to come.

HR 5632 closes this loophole, protects us from the unnecessary risks of
importing nuclear waste from around the world, and preserves our ability
to handle the uncertainties of our own nuclear waste disposal needs.

Please call your Representative today and ask for his/her support of HR
5632. 202-224-3121.

 

Thanks to HEAL Utah for this Alert. A HEAL Utah factsheet on this issue
will be posted on NIRS website, www.nirs.org <http://www.nirs.org/> ,
over the weekend. Other material on this issue is already available on
NIRS website.

 

Thanks for all you do!

 

Michael Mariotte

Executive Director

Nuclear Information and Resource Service

nirsnet at nirs.org

 

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let's get to 10,000 this Spring!

 

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