NRC Taking Comments on Church Rock Historical Preservation Agreement with Navajo Nation
Members of the public have a little more than a month to submit comments on a proposed agreement between the federal government and the Navajo Nation aimed at mitigating the impacts of a former uranium mine and mill’s cleanup on indigenous artifacts in the area, according to a notice this week.
Jan. 20 is the deadline for the interested public to weigh in on a draft programmatic agreement between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Navajo Nation concerning the cleanup of United Nuclear Corporation’s (UNC) Church Rock site in northwestern New Mexico, according to a Federal Register notice published this week.
The agreement, signed by NRC, EPA, the Navajo Nation’s historical preservation agency and other stakeholders, was drafted after the commission determined that Church Rock’s cleanup would impact indigenous archeological sites in the area.
NRC is currently deliberating on a license amendment for the UNC site that would allow the General Electric-led cleanup team to move radioactive material from the Church Rock uranium mine to a nearby mill tailings disposal site. The draft agreement is part of NRC’s efforts to develop an environmental impact statement for the license change.
According to the agreement, the UNC cleanup team would be trained on “the sensitivity of all historic and cultural resources, both Native American and non-Native American.” The UNC team would also be instructed not to search for or tamper with historical artifacts during the cleanup process.
If the draft agreement is approved, EPA will oversee its execution, Monday’s Federal Register notice said.
The Navajo Nation has already expressed concern about the proposed license amendment. Tribal president Jonathan Nez told NRC in April that the proposed destination for Church Rock’s mine waste was too close to local indigenous communities, the closest of which is only about a tenth of a mile from the mill tailings disposal site.
In 1973, a dam breach at Church Rock caused 94 million gallons of radioactive mine waste to flow into the nearby Puerco River, which served as a water source for local Navajo communities.
Visions of Nuclear: Grimes Goes to Bat for Diablo Canyon
Amid a flurry of advocacy to keep California’s last nuclear power plant from shutting down, the site got an unexpected shout out on social media this week from award-winning musician Claire Boucher, popularly known as Grimes.
“California is in an energy and climate crisis, and closing Diablo Canyon will make us reliant on fossil fuels,” said Grimes, Canadian-born dream-pop artist and one-time partner of celebrity tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, in a video posted to Twitter Monday.
“this is crisis mode and we should be using all the tools that we have. especially the ones sitting right here in front of us!”@Grimezsz on keeping diablo canyon open and nuclear power in california ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/WTHOnUyM0N
— isabelle 🪐 (@isabelleboemeke) December 6, 2021
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) currently plans to shutter Diablo Canyon Power Plant’s two reactors over a two year period, starting in 2024. Diablo Canyon, located midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco along the California coast, is the Golden State’s last operating nuclear power plant — the former San Onofre, Rancho Seco and Humboldt Bay plants are all decommissioned or actively being dismantled.
“If we push the closure [of Diablo Canyon] back a decade, it will help the state decarbonize faster, and make the transition to clean energy faster and cheaper,” Grimes said Monday. “This is crisis mode, and we should be using all the tools that we have, especially the ones sitting right in front of us.”
The musician’s comments come as the government and stakeholders apply pressure on California to keep Diablo Canyon from going dark. Stakeholders held a “Save Clean Energy” rally in the plant’s host community of San Luis Obispo, Calif., over the weekend to drum up support for the nuclear plant. Nuclear professional organization the American Nuclear Society (ANS), which was present at the rally, penned an op-ed Nov. 24 arguing that Diablo Canyon’s closure would “inflict grave harm” on California.
In Washington, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm suggested last week that California consider their options for keeping the plant open, saying that the Department of Energy would be willing to talk with Sacramento if it decides to do so.
Meanwhile, PG&E has said that it would provide more information about decommissioning work at Diablo Canyon in the coming months, including details about whether the company will spearhead dismantling the plant or contract out to a third party.
