Miller: DOE report unsatisfactory

Wednesday, March 25, 1998 | 10:47 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Bob Miller said the U.S. Department of Energy has failed to answer important safety questions about low-level radioactive materials that leaked en route from Ohio to the Nevada Test Site.

Miller urged the federal government Tuesday to continue its moratorium on shipments into Nevada until safety issues are addressed to protect not only Nevadans but those along the transportation route.

In December, liquid was discovered leaking from a low-level radioactive shipping container on a truck in Kingman, Ariz., that was en route to the NTS from Fernald, Ohio.

The DOE stopped further shipments until the problem is resolved.

Miller said the DOE has failed to take any steps to correct the mismanagement which created the problem and it has no formal plan for deploying a hazardous materials response team to an accident site.

The governor said the DOE allowed the use of substandard hazardous waste containers in which radioactive materials were shipped through populated areas.

The lower standards permitted the removal of a center rail support, the reduction of the gauge metal and the elimination of vibration and drop tests on the completed containers, Miller said.

The DOE, the governor said, failed to assess the formation of free-liquid in the waste material during shipment.

"Combined with the use of an improper material in the containers, these two factors led to the leakage of liquid from the hazardous materials containers on at least three occasions," Miller said.

More than 400 containers of low-level radioactive waste were shipped from Ohio to the Nevada Test Site last year.

"The DOE report has been completed, but not to the satisfaction of the state of Nevada," Miller said.