Feds get permit to move Moab nuclear waste
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management in Grand Junction, Colo., announced Friday it has been awarded the special permit by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The permit represents one of several hurdles the DOE must clear before it can transfer low-level radioactive mill tailings from Moab to a permanent disposal site at Crescent Junction, Grand County.
DOE began the application process for the special permit in November 2005.
The permit requires the DOE to transport the waste in securely covered and clearly marked containers, including the designation "For Radioactive Materials Use Only," according to a DOE press release. The DOE plans to move most of the material by rail, although the permit also allows for transportation by over-the-road trucks and trailers.
"This has been a long and sometimes tedious process," said Donald Metzler, Moab project director for the DOE, in the press release. "However, in the long run, having this special permit in place will save us extensive time and money.
That is not likely to happen until 2008 or 2009, according to the latest projections, Utah Department of Environmental Quality hydrologist Molly Gregerson told the Deseret Morning News. But some infrastructure, both in Moab and Crescent Junction, is likely to be constructed in 2007, she said.
"What this (permit) will do is allow them to move the project along a little bit quicker," Gregerson said, noting the timetable for actually moving the waste keeps "getting extended for all the logistical reasons and funding issues."
Gregerson and Dane Finerfrock, director of the DEQ's Division of Radiation Control, said the permit is a positive development toward permanently relocating the tailings.
"This is just one of the myriad steps the Department of Energy has to go through to set things into motion," Finerfrock said.
E-mail: zman@desnews.com
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