A bill that would cap the amount of radioactive waste allowed Michigan awaits floor consideration this week in the state Senate after a committee vote.
The state Senate’s Energy and Environment Committee last week approved an amended version of Senate Bill 1052 10-4. Michigan Sen. Darrin Camilleri (D), whose 4th Michigan Senate District is just southwest of Detroit, sponsored the bill.
Existing radioactive waste disposal sites would be prohibited from expanding, under the bill, and there would be a moratorium on new licenses until the state adopts a State Hazardous and Radioactive Waste Management Plan, according to a summary of the bill. The measure would also ban disposal of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material in Michigan.
Camilleri introduced the bill the same year Michanganders began complaining about shipments of Manhattan Project waste to Republic Services’ Wayne Disposal facility in Belleville, Mich., from the Niagara Falls Storage Site in Lewiston, N.Y. The low-level radioactive waste is mostly contaminated soil. The Army Corps of Engineers is cleaning up the Niagara Falls site as part of its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program.
Michigan begins new legislative sessions on the second Wednesday of January. Final adjournment is set by a concurrent resolution and none had passed as of Tuesday evening. The state legislature often adjourns in late November or December.
