Editorial: Feds should learn from Beatty dump

Monday, June 29, 1998 | 11:57 a.m.

The report disclosed last week that the dump 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas had accumulated 47 pounds of highly radioactive plutonium. The finding is frightful because a speck of inhaled plutonium is enough to cause lung cancer. Plutonium also has a life of half a million years.

The unlined dump, which is still used for chemical waste, hasn't accepted radioactive debris since 1992. Up to that time, dump contractor US Ecology followed the law by filling the Beatty site with contaminated tools, gloves and pipes that came from commercial nuclear reactors and laboratories.

While the dump was intended for "low-level" radioactive waste such as contaminated clothing and tools, the plutonium accumulated to the point where it became as potentially harmful as "high-level" waste from spent nuclear fuel rods.

Most Nevadans already oppose the use of this state as a dumping ground for the nation's high-level nuclear waste. Despite this opposition, the federal government continues to study Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as a potential repository for high-level waste.

The problem in Beatty is that the law covering "low-level" waste dumps obviously fails to account for the long-term accumulation of plutonium and its potential harm to humans and the environment.

As noted by Sun reporters Mary Manning and Benjamin Grove, the 47 pounds of plutonium could pollute a 5-foot-deep swimming pool that covers 30,625 square miles, about the size of Maine. That's also enough water to supply 200 million households in a year.

There's cause for concern because scientists believe the ground water around Beatty flows toward Amargosa Valley, a fertile area about 70 miles northwest of Las Vegas. No tests have yet detected plutonium in the valley's water supply, but it could prove disastrous if contamination occurs. The valley is home to people who raise dairy cows and grow pistachio nuts and vegetables.

The federal government needs to adopt standards to ensure that the accumulation of plutonium in low-level dumps does not reach the point where it can do any harm. It also may be necessary to study the possibility of leakage at the Beatty site, and consider a plan to clean it up.