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OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- The Department of Energy is pulling the plug on Oak Ridge's controversial toxic waste incinerator. The DOE says it'll stop receiving waste by the end of April. Crews are scheduled to begin demolishing the facility in five years. The incinerator has burned concerns about emissions for years. "It's basically done its job," said Walter Perry, a DOE spokesman. That job's been burning more than 33 million pounds of waste since 1991. The one-of-a-kind, $26 million dollar incinerator at the former K-25 uranium enrichment plant treats what the DOE calls "mixed wastes." "You have polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs as they're commonly called, as well as hazardous types of waste....and radioactive elements," Perry said. The DOE plans to burn through the remaining 1.7 million pounds of remaining mostly liquid waste by September 30th. "At that time, we'll begin closure activities, which basically taking the incinerator, rinsing all the piping and the tanks, and leading up to the facility demolition," Perry said. The DOE says that's set to happen in 2014.

The state of Oregon has fined URS, the contractor operating the incinerator at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, $111,000. Most of the fine is for violations of the facility's hazardous waste and air contaminant discharge permits as it began to burn mustard weapons agent and the agent containers. The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility has not incinerated any chemical weapons agent or containers for 40 days while it addresses the issue. "They are delaying operations to make sure it doesn't happen again," said Rich Duval of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's Chemical Demilitarization Program in Hermiston. URS's Washington Demilitarization Co. reported the problems to the state, including eight occasions when the plant exceeded its emissions limit for carbon monoxide as it began incinerating mustard agent.

The state of Oregon has fined URS, the contractor operating the incinerator at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, $111,000. Most of the fine is for violations of the facility's hazardous waste and air contaminant discharge permits as it began to burn mustard weapons agent and the agent containers. The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility has not incinerated any chemical weapons agent or containers for 40 days while it addresses the issue. "They are delaying operations to make sure it doesn't happen again," said Rich Duval of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's Chemical Demilitarization Program in Hermiston. URS's Washington Demilitarization Co. reported the problems to the state, including eight occasions when the plant exceeded its emissions limit for carbon monoxide as it began incinerating mustard agent.

Mercury-laden waste pushes shutdown date to Nov. 30 OAK RIDGE - The last waste to be burned at the federal government's 20-year-old toxic waste incinerator is apparently proving to be some of the most difficult. The Department of Energy and its environmental manager have again delayed the permanent closure of the Oak Ridge incinerator, citing the need for more time to process mercury-laden

Mercury-laden waste pushes shutdown date to Nov. 30 OAK RIDGE - The last waste to be burned at the federal government's 20-year-old toxic waste incinerator is apparently proving to be some of the most difficult. The Department of Energy and its environmental manager have again delayed the permanent closure of the Oak Ridge incinerator, citing the need for more time to process mercury-laden

The Department of Energy's long-stated plan to shut down its Oak Ridge incinerator at the end of September has been put on hold -- at least for another month and a half. According to Dennis Hill, a spokesman for Bechtel Jacobs Co., efforts to burn the remaining inventory of hazardous waste got delayed, in part, because some of the last liquid-waste shipments contained higher-than-expected quantities of mercury. That meant the waste had to be burned at a slower rate to meet the incinerator's emissions requirements, Hill said. "The higher concentration waste is incinerated at lower rates to meet emission limits and, therefore, requires additional time to incinerate," Hill said. "We also are conducting tank rinse and closure activities at the same time.''

The Department of Energy's decision to shut down its Oak Ridge incinerator doesn't mean that less waste will be coming to Oak Ridge. Just the opposite could be the case. With DOE's incinerator out of business by year's end, private companies are expected to pick up the slack in treating difficult waste streams - such as radioactive materials mixed with polychlorinated biphenyls - and some of those companies are in Oak Ridge. Perma-Fix Environmental in March received approval from the Environmental Protection Agency to burn PCB wastes, and Larry McNamara, the company's chief operating officer, said two facilities owned by Perma-Fix will be involved in the broadening waste-treatment program.

Remaining waste to be burned at unique OR facility before closure OAK RIDGE - At the end of April, the Department of Energy will stop receiving waste at its Oak Ridge incinerator and proceed with plans to shut down the one-of-a-kind facility. The incinerator has burned more than 33 million pounds of waste over the past two decades, specializing in the treatment of so-called mixed wastes that contain radioactive elements, polychlorinated biphenyls and other hazardous chemicals.

LAND next to Sellafield may be earmarked for a giant incinerator to burn both low-level nuclear waste and domestic waste from across Cumbria and beyond. A conference on the Energy Coast at Penrith on Friday heard that a business plan is in the advanced stages for the incinerator and its railhead on greenfield land on the Gosforth side of Sellafield. Barry Watkinson, delivery manager for external innovation for Sellafield Ltd, said the low-level waste repository had to move on from its current "antiquated" approach of burying waste in containers and vaults at Drigg. He added that Sellafield already had a combined heat and power plant that "needs replacing in five to six years' time... this is the opportunity to look at a different approach and get energy from waste."

A GIANT incinerator to burn nuclear and domestic waste could be built on greenfield land on the Gosforth side of Sellafield, a conference has heard. A seminar on the prospects for the Energy Coast plan for west Cumbria was told a business plan is in the advanced stages of preparation for the incinerator and its railhead. Barry Watkinson, delivery manager for external innovation for Sellafield Ltd said the Drigg low level waste repository had to move on from its current "antiquated" approach of burying waste in containers and vaults.

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced that disposal of 5.7 million pounds of excess plant oils has been completed by its Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office. Advertisement The work was part of deactivation activities being done by USEC to prepare the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon for decontamination and decommissioning. According to DOE, the removal and disposal of the motor lubricating oils and transformer oils used during uranium enrichment activities at the plant in the past has been a major achievement \to remove a significant fire hazard, eliminate the potential for an environmental release and minimize hazards for workers during decontamination and decommissioning. The plant stopped producing enriched uranium in 2001 and has been in cold shutdown since 2005. The oil disposition work started in 2006 and was stepped up this year -- with 4.1 million of the 5.7 million pounds being removed in just more than nine months this year. The excess oils were incinerated at the Clean Harbors Commercial Incineration Facility in Deer Park, Texas.

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced that disposal of 5.7 million pounds of excess plant oils has been completed by its Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office. Advertisement The work was part of deactivation activities being done by USEC to prepare the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon for decontamination and decommissioning. According to DOE, the removal and disposal of the motor lubricating oils and transformer oils used during uranium enrichment activities at the plant in the past has been a major achievement \to remove a significant fire hazard, eliminate the potential for an environmental release and minimize hazards for workers during decontamination and decommissioning. The plant stopped producing enriched uranium in 2001 and has been in cold shutdown since 2005. The oil disposition work started in 2006 and was stepped up this year -- with 4.1 million of the 5.7 million pounds being removed in just more than nine months this year. The excess oils were incinerated at the Clean Harbors Commercial Incineration Facility in Deer Park, Texas.

A massive incinerator that could burn atomic waste is under consideration by the operator of the Sellafield nuclear complex. The controversial plan was outlined by an executive at Sellafield Ltd at a local conference to discuss the role of the site, which comes under private management this month.

Perma-Fix Environmental last month got approval to burn PCB-contaminated rad waste at its Oak Ridge-area facility, and this month received its first shipments. Larry McNamara, the chief operating officer, confirmed that the company's DSSI (Diversified Scientific Services Inc.) facility near Kingston had received shipments from Paducah, Ky., and Richland, Wash., to be treated at the thermal-boiler system. He also said another shipment had arrived, although he didn't have details, and more are in the works. McNamara said the company is ready to accept waste loads that might otherwise be treated at the Dept. of Energy's TSCA Incinerator in Oak Ridge, which is scheduled to close later this year. Some of the waste streams coming to Oak Ridge may need to be segregated at the company's M&EC facility, with the PCB-tainted liquids sent to DSSI for treatment in the thermal boiler, McNamara said. However, he said there are few limits on the types and amounts of wastes that can be treated.

RADIOACTIVE waste from the controversial Sellafield nuclear plant is set to be disposed of in Hampshire, the Daily Echo can reveal. Under a proposal out to consultation today, ten trucks a year would make the 350- mile journey from Cumbria to an incinerator in Fawley, on the edge of the New Forest. Each truck would carry about 40 barrels of low-level radioactive waste oil to the Spanish-owned facility. Up to 100 cubic metres of radioactive waste would be sent to Hampshire each year, a spokesman for Sellafield said.

RADIOACTIVE waste from the controversial Sellafield nuclear plant is set to be disposed of in Hampshire, the Daily Echo can reveal. Under a proposal out to consultation today, ten trucks a year would make the 350- mile journey from Cumbria to an incinerator in Fawley, on the edge of the New Forest. Each truck would carry about 40 barrels of low-level radioactive waste oil to the Spanish-owned facility. Up to 100 cubic metres of radioactive waste would be sent to Hampshire each year, a spokesman for Sellafield said.

Greg Clark is a thoughtful chap: the sort of chap who contemplates his subject from all angles before pronouncing. If he reckons we need more nuclear power stations, that's good enough for me. Greg is also a sound localist - one of the original supporters of Direct Democracy - and he wants local communities to be consulted about the siting of any new facilities. How can these two things be reconciled? How can we build more nuclear power stations quickly while respecting local autonomy? Here's an idea: why not let the market decide? Some US states have come up with an intriguing way of settling where to build unpopular installations, from incinerators to mobile phone masts. They ask each county what it would take to make them want the facility. Each county then submits a sealed bid, and the one with the lowest price is chosen. How the county authorities use the money is up to them: they can spend it, cut taxes or both.

Greg Clark is a thoughtful chap: the sort of chap who contemplates his subject from all angles before pronouncing. If he reckons we need more nuclear power stations, that's good enough for me. Greg is also a sound localist - one of the original supporters of Direct Democracy - and he wants local communities to be consulted about the siting of any new facilities. How can these two things be reconciled? How can we build more nuclear power stations quickly while respecting local autonomy? Here's an idea: why not let the market decide? Some US states have come up with an intriguing way of settling where to build unpopular installations, from incinerators to mobile phone masts. They ask each county what it would take to make them want the facility. Each county then submits a sealed bid, and the one with the lowest price is chosen. How the county authorities use the money is up to them: they can spend it, cut taxes or both.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to receive more than 4,000 comments from individuals and organizations regarding a company's proposal to import 20,000 tons of nuclear waste from Italy, process and incinerate the material in Tennessee and dispose the remainder in Utah. "The sheer volume of comments indicates there is serious concern about this proposal," said U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, who opposes the plan. "When we accept foreign waste, we limit space for our domestic waste, and we also accept the responsibility of monitoring it for generations to come.

NOT one hand was raised in favour of an incinerator at last night's public discussion of an alternative to mass burn. The meeting, chaired by Rodney Brouard, saw about 200 people attend to hear what Baltic Development Group had to offer. The company put forward its method of using steam to treat waste, which separates recyclables and turns the rest into a product that can be used as an alternative to plastic.

Utah: the guinea pig state. And now for the latest federal experiment with our public health, the curious case of depleted uranium, a radioactive waste that keeps getting hotter as time goes by. But first, some background. Our state constitution might as well read: "Give us your chemical weapons incinerator, your biological weapons testing facility, your nuclear fallout, your radioactive waste." Utah has it all. Now, we're being told to take another one for the country. Federal regulators have yet to determine where and how depleted uranium should be disposed, yet 49,000 metric tons of the material have already been buried at EnergySolutions' low-level radioactive waste disposal facility at Clive. And, even as the NRC holds hearings to start writing rules for safe disposal of this growing waste stream, another 14,000 metric tons await shipment to Utah from South Carolina beginning next month.

When We Almost Nuked Savannah Things go missing. It's to be expected. Even at the Pentagon. Last October, the Pentagon's inspector general reported that the military's accountants had misplaced a destroyer, several tanks and armored personnel carriers, hundreds of machine guns, rounds of ammo, grenade launchers and some surface-to-air missiles. In all, nearly $8 billion in weapons were AWOL. Those anomalies are bad enough. But what's truly chilling is the fact that the Pentagon has lost track of the mother of all weapons, a hydrogen bomb. The thermonuclear weapon, designed to incinerate Moscow, has been sitting somewhere off the coast of Savannah, Georgia for the past 40 years. The Air Force has gone to greater lengths to conceal the mishap than to locate the bomb and secure it. On the night of February 5, 1958 a B-47 Stratojet bomber carrying a hydrogen bomb on a night training flight off the Georgia coast collided with an F-86 Saberjet fighter at 36,000 feet. The collision destroyed the fighter and severely damaged a wing of the bomber, leaving one of its engines partially dislodged. The bomber's pilot, Maj. Howard Richardson, was instructed to jettison the H-bomb before attempting a landing. Richardson dropped the bomb into the shallow waters of Wassaw Slough, near the mouth of the Savannah River, a few miles from the city of Tybee Island, where he believed the bomb would be swiftly recovered. The Pentagon recorded the incident in a top secret memo to the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. The memo has been partially declassified: "A B-47 aircraft with a [word redacted] nuclear weapon aboard was damaged in a collision with an F-86 aircraft near Sylvania, Georgia, on February 5, 1958. The B-47 aircraft attempted three times unsuccessfully to land with the weapon. The weapon was then jettisoned visually over water off the mouth of the Savannah River. No detonation was observed."

After last week's Federal Court ruling that a regional compact didn't have the authority to deny waste shipments to the EnergySolutions landfill in Utah, the decision on whether to allow EnergySolutions to import up to 20,000 tons of radioactive waste from Italy is back in the hands of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Italian waste would be brought intitially to the EnergySolutions facility in Oak Ridge for incineration and other treatments, with the remaining residues sent to Utah for disposal. That's the plan. NRC spokesman David McIntyre said today the NRC has not taken any action regarding EnergySolutions' application for an import license. He noted that that the commission earlier "set the matter aside" because of the pending activity in Federal Court. Now, unless there is an appeal of the court ruling, McIntyre confirmed that the next move would involve the NRC. But, he said, it's not necessarily clear what step that would be. The import application, which contains the EnergySolutions proposal to import waste from Italy, has generated much controversy and more public comment than any similar application ever.

A duct-tape hose repair on a tanker of radiation-tainted toxic waste led to a potentially dangerous leak last month in Carbon County. The incident occurred March 31, when an employee at Price Canyon weigh station noticed a wet stain on the back of a tanker transporting material from the EnergySolutions Inc. site in Tooele County. A Carbon County hazmat team was called in and found up to a half-gallon of material had come from the broken and taped-over hose. The tanker contained 3,000 gallons of waste solvent destined for a U.S. Energy Department toxic waste incinerator in Tennessee. "Crews inspected the area and found no contamination to the environment," said Mark Walker, a spokesman for EnergySolutions, the nation's largest radioactive waste company.