Nuke waste loads on hold

Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2001 | 11 a.m.

The Energy Department has indefinitely halted at least 20 shipments of low-level nuclear waste destined for the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The shipments, sent to the Test Site for burial from DOE facilities nationwide, contain radiation-contaminated clothing, equipment and soils. The radioactive cargo will stay at DOE sites across the country until further notice.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced that the shipments would be stopped in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks.

"We will consider releasing the hold on transportation of nuclear materials, but until we make an announcement to that effect, the shipment of nuclear materials remains halted," Abraham said.

The Test Site has suspended shipments of low-level nuclear waste until the order is lifted, DOE spokeswoman Nancy Harkess said Monday.

The site from 1951 through 1992 was used to test nuclear weapons experiments. Testing ended in 1992 when former President Bush called a halt to all nuclear weapons testing in the United States. The site since the mid-1970s also has been used to store and bury low-level nuclear waste.

The Test Site annually receives about 600,000 cubic feet of low level radioactive waste, which is buried in 55-gallon drums.

In February 2000 the DOE selected the Test Site as a regional dumping ground for radioactive waste left over from the development of U.S. nuclear weapons.

Shipments from Fernald, Ohio, which processed uranium for nuclear weapons, were stopped in December 1997 after seven containers with low level radioactive sludge leaked at the Test Site and in Kingman, Ariz. The two gallons of liquid, which was dripping from a truck in Kingman, were not radioactive.

After Nevada officials protested the leaking cargo, the DOE stopped all Fernald shipments and conducted its own investigation. The DOE stopped using white metal boxes for Fernald's sludge, and shipments resumed in 2000.