Halt Sought in Licensing of Nuclear Dump

Warning that taxpayers could face billions of dollars in future liability, a coalition of anti-nuclear activists and Hollywood entertainment figures called Tuesday for an immediate halt in the licensing of a proposed low-level nuclear waste dump in the Mojave Desert.

Speaking at a news conference in Beverly Hills, they urged top state officials and a key congressman to block further action on the dump pending a comprehensive investigation of potential cleanup costs and the liability of California taxpayers in the event of a radioactive leak.

The demand for a financial accounting comes less than a month before scheduled licensing hearings on the 70-acre facility, located 24 miles west of Needles.

If approved, the Ward Valley site, which would be operated by U.S. Ecology Inc., would be the first low-level nuclear waste dump in a generation to open in the United States.

The $40-million facility is scheduled to open in 1992, but the anti-nuclear activists and others said Tuesday that analyzing cleanup and liability costs could delay the opening at least nine months.

Unlike generators of chemical or hazardous waste, nuclear waste generators are exempted from any liability for damages in the event of a leak, according to Hugh Kaufman, an official of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency who exposed toxic pollution at Love Canal in New York.

“I frankly don’t want to buy a pig in a poke. Speaking as a taxpayer, I do not want to be financially responsible. . . , “ said actress Susan Clark.

Sherry Meddick of Greenpeace, an environmental group, called the facility “a financial and environmental time bomb. . . . It is unconscionable that taxpayers be asked to pick up the tab for the nuclear industry. . . . “

Laura Lake, spokeswoman for the National Council of Jewish Women, called it a “sweetheart bailout for the nuclear industry.”

The coalition called on Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) to “instruct” Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. not to transfer the federally owned dump site to the state until the liability issues have been examined. They said Miller had such authority as chairman of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee.

They also charged that U.S. Ecology has a poor record of operating other low-level nuclear waste dumps outside California and has been sued following charges that radioactivity from the dumps contaminated ground water.

A company spokesman overseeing the Mojave project was not immediately available to comment.

In Washington, Miller’s office said he had not been contacted by the coalition, but was willing to meet with them.

Controller Gray Davis, the state’s chief financial officer, also issued a statement supporting a financial examination.

Davis called on Gov. Pete Wilson and state Department of Health Services Director Molly Coye to open a separate inquiry into the financial issues because the upcoming licensing hearings are limited to issues of health, safety and the environment.

Health services spokesman Norm Hartman said neither the governor nor Coye had seen Davis’ request and would withhold comment until they do.