Titus raises alarm at shipment of nuclear materials to Nevada

WASHINGTON — Nuclear waste cleanup at the Idaho National Laboratory and the shipment and storage of the materials to other states prompted Rep. Dina Titus on Monday to demand specifics from the Department of Energy on the amount and risks to Las Vegas and the Nevada National Security Site.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Titus said she was troubled that her office was never notified that some of the waste removed from Idaho would be shipped and stored in Nevada.

“The proximity of the NNSS to my (congressional) District and the fact that dangerous materials could be sharing the roads with my constituents and visitors raise a number of questions for me about this shipment of nuclear materials,” Titus wrote to Granholm.

The letter was sent late Monday.

“The Department of Energy values its relationship with the State of Nevada, and strives to conduct operations at the Nevada National Security Site with transparency, and with safety as its top priority,” an Energy Department spokesperson said. “Regarding waste shipments, all offsite wastes shipped to and disposed at the NNSS are handled safely and securely and must meet all applicable federal and state regulations as well as the rigorous NNSS Waste Acceptance Criteria. We look forward to providing the information requested regarding the Department’s disposal operations at the NNSS and will work to ensure that our operations are conducted with the highest standards for transparency.”

The Department of Energy announced last month that the high-priority cleanup project in Idaho to protect the Snake River Plain Aquifer was ahead of schedule.

Most of the waste being removed is being sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. The waste in Idaho originally came from cleanup of the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado, which produced nuclear weapons before it closed in the 1970s.

The waste includes nuclear filters and other components and material used at the Colorado plant before it was shipped and stored in Idaho, where legal challenges by the state resulted in the exhumation and storage at another permanent location.

Only a small amount of the waste is being sent to other locations, including the Nevada National Security Site. Titus said the Department of Energy has not been forthcoming about the shipping of that waste to Nevada, or the details of the content of the waste.

“Since I learned about the proposed transfer of nuclear waste from Idaho, I’ve had concerns,” Titus said in a statement.

“After reports that portions of this waste were slated for the Nevada National Security Site, I’ve reached out to DOE. Until I receive satisfactory answers to all of my questions, I will continue to voice opposition to any transfers of nuclear material,” she said. “Nevada is not America’s dumping ground.”

Low-level and mixed low-level radioactive military waste are currently stored at the Nevada National Security Site.

In her letter to Granholm, Titus asked that the Energy Department disclose the amount of waste to be shipped to the Nevada National Security Site, and whether its is classified as low-level or mixed low-level, the latter of which includes toxic metals.

The Energy Department agreed to pay Nevada $65,000 last year for shipments of mischaracterized waste from Tennessee to the Nevada National Security Site over a five-year period.

Energy Department officials said the waste posed no health or safety risks to workers or the public.

The Energy Department also is under federal court order to remove a metric half-ton of weapons grade plutonium that was moved to the Nevada National Security Site, as the state sought to block the shipment. Federal officials revealed the shipments after the state had filed a lawsuit in federal court.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.