HUIZENGA: NO ‘PLAN B’ FOR U-233 SHIPMENTS

The Department of Energy is not examining any alternatives for the uranium-233 it hopes to send to the Nevada National Security Site for disposal in the event that concerns by Nevada officials are not resolved, DOE cleanup chief Dave Huizenga said yesterday. Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) and other Nevada officials have opposed the shipment, but last week Sandoval met with DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz and agreed to form a working group to address the issue. “We are not really looking at alternatives at the moment, because we are going to hope that we are going to be successful in opening up communications and clarifying things at a more senior level. I think we are going to get the job done,” Huizenga said yesterday at the International Symposium on the Packaging and Transportation of Radioactive Materials in San Francisco.

While the working group is still being formed, it will focus on clarifying issues surrounding the controversial material being stored at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Huizenga said. “We had a successful meeting with the governor last week that set the stage for some continued discussions to clarify exactly what the material is and what it isn’t, more importantly, because I think there’s a lot of misunderstandings about this,” he said. “This is low-level waste and we’ve done our due diligence to basically understand that it can be safely and successfully transported and disposed of at the Nevada site. So, time will tell.”