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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.

"Utah, say federal regulators, can help solve a big problem for the nuclear industry: the pileup of low-level radioactive waste at many of the nation's reactors. Much of the hottest low-level waste -- though far less radioactive than used fuel rods -- is stored at 90 power plants because nuclear companies have nowhere to dispose of it. So, staff at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has proposed changing federal rules to make that waste permissible at the EnergySolutions Inc. disposal site in Utah through "blending." By allowing more hazardous "Class B and C waste" to be mixed with lower-hazard "Class A" waste, regulators would make the blend legal for disposal at EnergySolutions, the only commercial site open to low-level radioactive waste from 36 states. The blending proposal reflects a big shift in NRC policy, and it directly contradicts the public positions of Gov. Gary Herbert, the Utah Division of Radiation Control and the state's Radiation Control Board. The Utahns object to blending "when the intent is to alter the waste classification for the purposes of disposal site access." Five years ago, Utah banned "Class B and Class C" low-level radioactive waste. "

"Sweet-shop metaphors were being tossed around like ammunition in a food fight Tuesday at a meeting of the state Radiation Control Board. Some likened the blending of low-level radioactive waste to concocting a sugar cookie, others to baking a layer cake. But board members preferred less-creative analogies when considering the serious issue of various types of nuclear- reactor rubbish that EnergySolutions and others want to stir together to be buried forever at the company's disposal site in Utah. The Radiation Control Board a few months ago approved a position paper that said even though blended waste is not significantly more hazardous than the Class A waste allowed in Utah, the state doesn't want any radioactive waste that is blended just to change its classification so that it can be legally buried at the EnergySolutions site."

EnergySolutions seems hell-bent to increase its revenue stream by diversifying the waste stream flowing to its low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Tooele County. Its efforts to serve as the depository for the nation's depleted uranium and the world's low-level radioactive waste are well-documented. And now, the for-profit firm is arguing in favor of "blending" trash , which would allow it to introduce even hotter trash to the Beehive State. Company officials made their case for blended waste before the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission Tuesday. The process, if approved, would allow hotter Class B and C low-level wastes to be mixed with Class A waste as long as the blended waste does not exceed the standards for Class A waste, the least radioactive of low-level wastes and the only type Utah law allows. It should come as no surprise that the nuclear industry would endorse such a practice. EnergySolutions is a private company looking to improve its bottom line. And the nuclear power industry is seeking a repository for its Class B and Class C waste, after a disposal site in South Carolina stopped accepting waste from 36 other states in 2008.

EnergySolutions seems hell-bent to increase its revenue stream by diversifying the waste stream flowing to its low-level radioactive waste disposal facility in Tooele County. Its efforts to serve as the depository for the nation's depleted uranium and the world's low-level radioactive waste are well-documented. And now, the for-profit firm is arguing in favor of "blending" trash , which would allow it to introduce even hotter trash to the Beehive State. Company officials made their case for blended waste before the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission Tuesday. The process, if approved, would allow hotter Class B and C low-level wastes to be mixed with Class A waste as long as the blended waste does not exceed the standards for Class A waste, the least radioactive of low-level wastes and the only type Utah law allows. It should come as no surprise that the nuclear industry would endorse such a practice. EnergySolutions is a private company looking to improve its bottom line. And the nuclear power industry is seeking a repository for its Class B and Class C waste, after a disposal site in South Carolina stopped accepting waste from 36 other states in 2008.

"If you start out with one teapot and a bag of Earl Grey blend, no matter how long you let the bag steep, you still end up with tea. That analogy, offered by the chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was touched on with reporters Monday while Gregory Jaczko was in Salt Lake City for a meeting of the Health Physics Society. Processed low-level radioactive waste or so-called "blended waste" - if it remains Class A material - "it is Class A material," Jaczko said. EnergySolutions' efforts to store the processed waste at its Clive facility have been met with criticism from some environmental advocacy groups and elicited a public policy statement of opposition to the practice by state regulators and Gov. Gary Herbert. The board, however, was careful to note that it recognized down-blended waste does not pose any unique health and safety issues, but emphasized it was opposed if the intent of blending is to alter the waste's classification."

"Is it akin to a chocolate chip cookie, a pot of Earl Grey tea or a sugar cookie? On the issue of radioactive "waste blending," members of the Utah Radiation Control Board were presented Tuesday with a smorgasbord of food analogies to help them as they grapple with the question of imposing stricter disposal guidelines on the material. EnergySolutions senior vice president Tom Magette told the board that so-called blended waste represents the uniformity of a sugar cookie, not a chocolate chip cookie peppered with higher radioactive waste resins."

Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations weighing whether mixing plan violates its rules. Washington » EnergySolutions pressed its case Tuesday before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to mix more potent low-level radioactive waste with the current materials it now buries at its Utah facility. The Salt Lake City-based company made a pitch before the NRC that it was safe and consistent with current law to take higher-level waste and blend it with the Class A waste it now disposes of in its Tooele County site. If more blending is allowed, EnergySolutions would be able to accept more concentrated and hazardous radioactive waste as long as it was "watered down" with lower-concentration material that is also permitted under the company's Utah license and state law.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations weighing whether mixing plan violates its rules. Washington » EnergySolutions pressed its case Tuesday before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to mix more potent low-level radioactive waste with the current materials it now buries at its Utah facility. The Salt Lake City-based company made a pitch before the NRC that it was safe and consistent with current law to take higher-level waste and blend it with the Class A waste it now disposes of in its Tooele County site. If more blending is allowed, EnergySolutions would be able to accept more concentrated and hazardous radioactive waste as long as it was "watered down" with lower-concentration material that is also permitted under the company's Utah license and state law.

"A bill that would prohibit 'blending' of nuclear waste in Tennessee, a process that is being tested at an Oak Ridge facility, failed on a 3-3 tie vote Tuesday in a House subcommittee after a Roane County legislator said it would jeopardize East Tennessee jobs. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Ty Cobb, D-Columbia, who said the blended waste could pose a health risk and wind up being permanently stored in Tennessee. That could include 20,000 tons of nuclear waste from Italy, he said. But Rep. Dennis Ferguson, D-Harriman, said EnergySolutions Inc., which is testing the process, and other companies involved have a 'great safety record,' much expertise and employ about 600 people in Roane and neighboring counties at a time when the 'economy is critical.'"

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is proposing a rule change that would allow hotter radioactive waste to be mixed with less hazardous waste so it could be disposed of in Utah. Utah is home to the only low-level radioactive waste facility available to 36 states. But it only disposes of Class A waste, considered the least hazardous. NRC regulators are proposing the blending of hotter Class B and C waste with Class A waste so that it can legally come to Utah. Much of the nation's class B and C waste has had no place to go in the past two years since a South Carolina facility was closed to all but three states. An NRC paper cites industry estimates that blended waste could slash the volume of orphaned Class B and Class C waste by two-thirds, from 12,000 cubic feet a year to about 4,000 cubic feet."

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will consider whether to allow for the first time nuclear waste processors to "blend" higher level radioactive waste with the lowest level radioactive waste at a hearing on June 17. Low-level radioactive waste is generated by universities, hospitals, and commercial nuclear power plants, and is classified as Class A, B. or C depending on the concentration of the waste's radioactivity (with Class A having the lowest concentration). The proposal before the Commission would allow Class A waste to be mixed with more radioactive Class B and C waste and still be classified as Class A. If the proposal goes through, "blending" would allow utilities, processors, and waste disposal sites to avoid existing environmental and safety requirements for how they dispose of the hotter waste."

"If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows EnergySolutions to blend more potent radioactive waste with the type of materials it already takes, the company won't need additional state approval to dispose of it in Utah, a company official said Thursday. Tom Magette, a senior vice president at EnergySolutions, said at a public meeting with NRC staff in Rockville, Md., that the blended waste would still fall under the Class A category allowed by the license for its Tooele County landfill. "I don't know what would trigger" the company to have to notify the state or seek its approval, Magette said. "

Nuclear material to be 'down-blended,' prepared for disposal OAK RIDGE - The Department of Energy and its contractor team are moving forward with a controversial $384 million project that will "down-blend" a stockpile of uranium-233 to remove its fission capability and prepare the highly radioactive material for disposal at the Nevada Test Site. DOE has scheduled a major design review in September that will look at the evolving plans for how to deal with the radioactive material, which currently is stored in a heavily shielded, high-security facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

An Indiana manufacturer unknowingly used metal blended with a dangerous radioactive isotope to make parts for 1,000 La-Z-Boy recliners more than a decade ago. The discovery of that contamination -- which received virtually no publicity at the time -- triggered a federal and state effort to keep the popular chairs out of American living rooms, a Scripps Howard News Service investigation has found. The isotope -- Cobalt-60 -- used by No-Sag Products Co. of Kendallville, Ind., had been blended in Brazil into metal No-Sag used in 1998

ome work at Nuclear Fuel Services in northeast Tennessee has been suspended as the company implements a safety initiative. All the employees returned to work last week though work was curtailed in the production operations area, commercial development line and down-blending facility. The company, which employs about 800, also initiated pay cuts for salaried workers and is reviewing such cuts for others. NFS processes nuclear fuel for the country's nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers and also converts government stockpiles of highly enriched uranium into material suitable for further processing into commercial nuclear reactor fuel.

ome work at Nuclear Fuel Services in northeast Tennessee has been suspended as the company implements a safety initiative. All the employees returned to work last week though work was curtailed in the production operations area, commercial development line and down-blending facility. The company, which employs about 800, also initiated pay cuts for salaried workers and is reviewing such cuts for others. NFS processes nuclear fuel for the country's nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers and also converts government stockpiles of highly enriched uranium into material suitable for further processing into commercial nuclear reactor fuel.

Duke Energy says first two tests were sufficient, denies waning interest Duke Energy, which has been testing French-made mixed-oxide nuclear fuels in its Catawba 1 reactor to gauge the suitability of similar fuels to be made at Savannah River Site, has exercised an option not to conduct a third 18-month testing cycle. Sign up for breaking news alerts from The Chronicle "It was used for two operating cycles and we made a decision that an additional cycle is not required," said Rita Sipe, a nuclear media relations spokeswoman for Duke Energy. The reason, she said, is that the first two cycles provided sufficient data that will be analyzed as part of the evaluation process for MOX, which is made by blending plutonium from dismantled nuclear bombs with conventional reactor fuels.

Duke Energy says first two tests were sufficient, denies waning interest Duke Energy, which has been testing French-made mixed-oxide nuclear fuels in its Catawba 1 reactor to gauge the suitability of similar fuels to be made at Savannah River Site, has exercised an option not to conduct a third 18-month testing cycle. Sign up for breaking news alerts from The Chronicle "It was used for two operating cycles and we made a decision that an additional cycle is not required," said Rita Sipe, a nuclear media relations spokeswoman for Duke Energy. The reason, she said, is that the first two cycles provided sufficient data that will be analyzed as part of the evaluation process for MOX, which is made by blending plutonium from dismantled nuclear bombs with conventional reactor fuels.

"A competition between nuclear waste dumps has pulled the Nuclear Regulatory Commission into an unusual reconsideration of its rules to allow moderately radioactive materials to be diluted into a milder category that is easier to bury. At issue is whether a site in Utah that is licensed to accept only the mildest category of radioactive waste, called Class A, could accept far more potent materials, known as Class B and C wastes, by blending the three together. Even low-level radioactive waste is a growing problem, with few licensed repositories to dispose of it. The problem dates from the early 1980s, when Congress said that the federal government would take care of high-level waste, like spent fuel from nuclear power plants, but that the states would have to find sites for low-level material, like the radiation sources used in cancer treatments and industrial X-rays, and filters used in nuclear plants."

"The head of the nation's nuclear-regulation agency said Monday that long-term public health and safety - not the nuclear industry's agenda - are driving decisions on the radioactive waste allowed in Utah. "Our staff's focus is 100 percent on safety," said Gregory B. Jaczko, who was in Salt Lake City to address the Health Physics Society annual meeting. The NRC must look at the technical questions, the science and the law as it determines if the EnergySolutions site is the right place to bury forever unusual forms of low-level radioactive waste, including depleted uranium and blended waste being generated by the tons."

French navy boats escorted a vessel carrying a major shipment of recycled nuclear fuel as it pulled out of a northern port Thursday to begin its 70-day trip to Japan. The Pacific Heron, a specially adapted ship with a British police team on board to head off possible hijackers, left Cherbourg to deliver the shipment of MOX, a blend of plutonium and reprocessed uranium, to Japanese power plants. Its departure came despite a request by the environmental group Greenpeace to the UN nuclear watchdog to stop the shipment of "an extremely dangerous and proliferating substance" that is "unsafe and unnecessary."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission wants more details on how waste generated by the Energy Department's mixed oxide fuel facility will be managed. Until more information can be gathered and evaluated, a hearing to discuss environmental groups' concerns over the waste stream will be postponed -- possibly until 2010 or later, according to a letter dated Monday from commission staff to the Atomic Safety & Licensing Board. The $4.86 billion MOX plant under construction at Savannah River Site will dispose of plutonium from dismantled warheads by blending it with other materials to make fuel for commercial nuclear reactors. Because commercial power plants would use the fuels, the MOX plant will require an NRC license.

Background: Decades of improper disposal of uranium-mining wastes on the Navajo Nation has resulted in adverse human and ecological health impacts as well as socio-cultural problems. As the Navajo people become increasingly aware of the contamination problems, there is a need to develop a risk-communication strategy to properly inform tribal members of the extent and severity of the health risks. To be most effective, this strategy needs to blend accepted riskcommunication techniques with Navajo perspectives such that the strategy can be used at the community level to inform culturally- and toxicologically-relevant decisions about land and water use as well as mine-waste remediation.