Nuclear Waste Dump’s Opening Delayed

An agreement struck between the Wilson Administration and Senate Democrats will delay opening of a proposed low-level nuclear waste dump in the Mojave Desert by at least one year, state and industry officials said Friday.

The delay, which would violate federal law requiring the dump to be operational next January, may leave California hospitals and businesses without a licensed dump to dispose of low-level radioactive waste.

Such waste comes from sources as varied as nuclear power plants, aerospace factories and medical research labs. It does not include such highly contaminated waste as spent nuclear reactor fuel rods.

Although officials had assumed for several months that the dump would not open on schedule, the delay was expected to be a matter of months.

Under the agreement reached Thursday, the Wilson Administration bowed to pressure to hold a quasi-judicial hearing on the dump in exchange for Senate confirmation of Gov. Pete Wilson’s nominee to head the state Health and Welfare Agency. Russell Gould was confirmed as agency secretary by a 30-1 vote Thursday.

Wilson assailed linking the hearing to Gould’s confirmation during a lunch Friday at The Times, calling it “a real abuse of the Senate’s responsibility. It’s wrong. Just flat wrong.”

But the governor said the hearing was justified because of controversy surrounding the proposed dump. “Just as members of the Senate Rules Committee, perhaps, don’t want to go down in history as being irresponsible in causing (an environmental problem), neither does the governor of California,” Wilson said.

Once scheduled, the hearing will span at least 7 1/2 months, state officials said. If approved, US Ecology Inc., proposed operator of the dump, would need a year to build the facility.

But industry sources said the delay could stretch two years or longer.

The state’s 2,254 radioactive waste producers now ship the material out of state. But beginning next January, states accepting California’s radioactive waste--Nevada, Washington and South Carolina--no longer will be required by federal law to do so.

If the federal government does not extend the deadline beyond January, these states could charge California businesses a premium price for dumping. Or, if they refuse to accept waste, California waste generators could be forced into storing more radioactive material than now allowed.

Dan Hirsch, president of the anti-nuclear Committee to Bridge the Gap, said California was not alone in falling behind schedule. “I can’t believe that 80% of the country will cease having disposal capability,” Hirsch said.

Among questions likely to be aired during the hearing is how quickly radioactive material migrates through the soil beneath the proposed Ward Valley dump site, 24 miles west of Needles. There is concern that ground water could be contaminated.