Nuclear waste shipment may be headed to Nevada

RENO (AP) - A shipment of 9,400 drums of depleted uranium oxide could be headed to Nevada.

The U.S. Department of Energy is considering a plan to send the radioactive waste from the Savannah River cleanup site in South Carolina to the Nevada National Security Site, formerly known as the Nevada Test Site, state officials said.

"We didn't request for the waste to come here. That's DOE's decision about where to send it," said Vinson Guthreau, spokesman for the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.

DOE spokeswoman Jen Stutsman said her agency is considering its options for disposal of the waste but hasn't reached a decision. She declined to identify specific sites under consideration.

Stutsman also declined to comment on an Oct. 11 report by Radwaste Monitor, a nuclear industry trade publication, that DOE wants to permanently dispose of the material at the Nevada site about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"We hope to reach a decision soon. The most important factor in our decision is how do we deliver the best value to taxpayers while ensuring public safety," she told The Associated Press.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the first of three planned shipments of depleted uranium from South Carolina was sent to EnergySolutions landfill in Clive, Utah, in December. That shipment involved more than 5,400 drums of the waste.

Stutsman said DOE later reached an agreement with Utah officials that the remaining two shipments would not go to Utah.

Mark Walker, spokesman for EnergySolutions, said the company would not object should DOE choose Nevada for the two trainloads of waste yet to leave South Carolina.

"We are aware the DOE is considering sending the two trainloads to the Nevada Test Site," he told the Tribune. "We are pleased (Nevada) is able to locate a permanent disposal for this material. They want to get this stuff safely disposed of in a permanent location."

Before the next shipments are made, DOE would have to prepare a "waste profile" detailing how much material is involved and other plans, Guthreau said.

"The waste profile has to happen before we accept any waste. DOE hasn't submitted it to us yet," he said.

The Nevada site has long accepted low-level waste from around the country.