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After a six-year legal war over safety at a nuclear waste dump, South Carolina environmentalists hope a pending court decision will force stricter disposal practices for the Barnwell County site. The S.C. Court of Appeals, which heard the case last fall, is expected to render a decision early next year on the Sierra Club's challenge to the site's operating permit. The landfill closed to the nation in 2008, but remains open to bury low-level nuclear waste for South Carolina and two other states. If the appeals court sides with the Sierra Club, it could force Chem-Nuclear to improve the way it buries garbage, which would better prevent leaks of radioactive material into groundwater, club lawyer Jimmy Chandler said. For years, landfill operators have allowed rainwater to fall on open trenches lined with clay, instead of plastic. Burial vaults also have holes in them, allowing water to escape.

After a six-year legal war over safety at a nuclear waste dump, South Carolina environmentalists hope a pending court decision will force stricter disposal practices for the Barnwell County site. The S.C. Court of Appeals, which heard the case last fall, is expected to render a decision early next year on the Sierra Club's challenge to the site's operating permit. The landfill closed to the nation in 2008, but remains open to bury low-level nuclear waste for South Carolina and two other states. If the appeals court sides with the Sierra Club, it could force Chem-Nuclear to improve the way it buries garbage, which would better prevent leaks of radioactive material into groundwater, club lawyer Jimmy Chandler said. For years, landfill operators have allowed rainwater to fall on open trenches lined with clay, instead of plastic. Burial vaults also have holes in them, allowing water to escape.

Most of the nation has nowhere to send its low-level nuclear waste. It can't stop producing this waste. It's necessary for diagnosing and treating cancer and other diseases, and for research. But because there is no-where to send the waste, it piles up in hospitals, other medical facilities and research centers. It's an illustration of our nation's inability to deal realistically with nuclear issues. Most of this waste used to be sent to South Carolina to the Barnwell Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility. It was the first such facility in the country when it began receiving radioactive waste in 1971. It is just one of three in the nation today. On July 1, a new policy took effect: The Barnwell facility takes waste only from South Carolina, Connecticut and New Jersey.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said May 29 it has issued updated guidance to fuel cycle and materials licensees that they may need to store some low-level radioactive waste on site for an extended period after the Barnwell, S.C., disposal facility closes to most states on July 1. NRC sets safety requirements for the near-surface disposal of low-level waste, which is classified as Class A, B, or C depending on its hazard and physical characteristics, with about 96 percent of all commercial low-level waste generated in the United States being Class A, the least hazardous.

Nuclear waste officials are closely watching a federal court case to see if it could allow for burial of foreign radioactive garbage at South Carolina's atomic refuse dump in Barnwell County. Energy Solutions Inc., which operates landfills in South Carolina and Utah, insists it won't send Italian nuclear waste to the 37-year-old landfill west of Barnwell under a company plan to import waste to the United States. But the company has challenged eight Western states in their attempt to block disposal of the foreign waste in Utah.

COLUMBIA --- Employees at the Barnwell low-level nuclear-waste storage site have had eight years to get used to the idea that their facility would be downsized. On July 1, the site will stop collecting nuclear waste from the nation.

SNELLING, S.C. - The low-level nuclear waste disposal site in Barnwell County is to close to most out-of-state shipments. Starting Tuesday, the facility near Snelling will take waste only from South Carolina, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The U.S. Energy Department made official today its plan to scrap a Bush administration initiative that could have brought a major nuclear fuel reprocessing facility to South Carolina. Economic developers, however, say the cancellation of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership-published in today's Federal Register- doesn't mean Barnwell County and Savannah River Site won't win a similar venture in the future. "At this point, GNEP, as a concept, is dead, but the issue of what do do with this material isn't," said Danny Black, president of the Barnwell-based SouthernCarolina Alliance, a regional economic development consortium. The GNEP program, unveiled in 2006, was a broad plan to reprocess spent commercial nuclear fuel to maximize its efficiency, reduce waste volume and prevent its exploitation for nuclear weapons.

The U.S. Energy Department made official Monday its plan to scrap a Bush administration initiative that could have brought a major nuclear fuel reprocessing facility to South Carolina. Sign up for breaking news alerts from The Chronicle Economic developers, however, say the cancellation of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership - published in Monday's Federal Register - doesn't mean Barnwell County and Savannah River Site won't win a similar venture in the future. "At this point, GNEP, as a concept, is dead, but the issue of what to do with this material isn't," said Danny Black, the president of Southern Carolina Alliance, a regional economic development consortium based in Barnwell.

A Massachusetts-based company that provides protective wear services for the nuclear industry says it will add 50 jobs at its South Carolina facility. UniTech Services Group said in a statement Friday the company is consolidating services from several of its other locations at its facility in Barnwell. UniTech currently employs 100 workers there. UniTech is a subsidiary of Springfield, Mass.-based UniFirst Corp. and provides radiological laundry and protective wear services for companies that deal with nuclear material.

Most of the nation has nowhere to send its low-level nuclear waste. It can't stop producing this waste. It's necessary for diagnosing and treating cancer and other diseases, and for research. But because there is nowhere to send the waste, it piles up in hospitals, other medical facilities and research centers. It's an illustration of our nation's inability to deal realistically with nuclear issues. Most of this waste used to be sent to South Carolina to the Barnwell Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility. It was the first such facility in the country when it began receiving radioactive waste in 1971. It is just one of three in the nation today.

Tuesday marked the end of South Carolina's role as the low-level radioactive waste disposal site for much of the nation. Henceforth, the Barnwell waste site will operate at a sharply reduced level, accepting waste only from three states, including South Carolina.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on issues associated with blending of low-level radioactive waste and is planning public meetings to discuss blending in Rockville, Md. The issue of blending low-level radioactive waste has received increased attention from the nuclear industry since the 2008 closing of the Barnwell, S.C., low-level waste disposal site. This action left waste generators in 36 states with no disposal options for Class B and Class C wastes, the two classes of low-level waste with higher radioactivity. Blending in some cases can lower the classification of the wastes to the lower-radioactivity Class A, which has available disposal capacity, by reducing the concentration of radionuclides. Blending refers to mixing low-level wastes of different concentrations, primarily Class B or C with Class A. It does not involve mixing radioactive waste with non-radioactive waste, a practice known as "dilution." And it does not imply release of radioactive material to the general environment, either to municipal non-radioactive waste disposal sites or to consumer products. Blended wastes remain low-level waste and must be disposed in a licensed low-level waste disposal facility.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on issues associated with blending of low-level radioactive waste and is planning public meetings to discuss blending in Rockville, Md. The issue of blending low-level radioactive waste has received increased attention from the nuclear industry since the 2008 closing of the Barnwell, S.C., low-level waste disposal site. This action left waste generators in 36 states with no disposal options for Class B and Class C wastes, the two classes of low-level waste with higher radioactivity. Blending in some cases can lower the classification of the wastes to the lower-radioactivity Class A, which has available disposal capacity, by reducing the concentration of radionuclides. Blending refers to mixing low-level wastes of different concentrations, primarily Class B or C with Class A. It does not involve mixing radioactive waste with non-radioactive waste, a practice known as "dilution." And it does not imply release of radioactive material to the general environment, either to municipal non-radioactive waste disposal sites or to consumer products. Blended wastes remain low-level waste and must be disposed in a licensed low-level waste disposal facility.

Most of the nation has nowhere to send its low-level nuclear waste. It can't stop producing this waste. It's necessary for diagnosing and treating cancer and other diseases, and for research. But because there is nowhere to send the waste, it piles up in hospitals, other medical facilities and research centers. It's an illustration of our nation's inability to deal realistically with nuclear issues. Most of this waste used to be sent to South Carolina to the Barnwell Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility. It was the first such facility in the country when it began receiving radioactive waste in 1971. It is just one of three in the nation today.

VERNON - Entergy Nuclear will begin storing its low-level radioactive waste on-site, after its long-time disposal site in South Carolina closes next month. Entergy Nuclear is not alone in the disposal problem, as the Chem-Nuclear LLC site in Barnwell, S.C., takes radioactive waste from 36 states.

The nation's nuclear industry has a problem. And it sees a partial fix in Utah, at the mile-square patch of Tooele County that is operated as a radioactive waste landfill by EnergySolutions Inc. Beginning Tuesday, commercial nuclear facilities in 36 states won't have a disposal for their hottest low-level radioactive waste, known as Class B&C waste. After years of talking about it, South Carolina, starting July 1, will reserve the remaining capacity in its Barnwell County landfill for just three states.

The nation's nuclear industry has a problem. And it sees a partial fix in Utah, at the mile-square patch of Tooele County that is operated as a radioactive waste landfill by EnergySolutions Inc. Beginning Tuesday, commercial nuclear facilities in 36 states won't have disposal for their hottest low-level radioactive waste, known as Class B&C waste. After years of talking about it, South Carolina will reserve the remaining capacity in its Barnwell County landfill for just three states starting July 1.

Thousands of people from some of South Carolina's most depressed counties are flocking to information sessions for new jobs cleaning up an old nuclear weapons complex. Some of the 2,000 people at a job fair in Barnwell this week say they don't mind that the job is cleaning up nuclear waste at the Savannah River Site. They say the economy is so bad that just about any job sounds good.