Ward Valley Waste Facility

* Your May 21 editorial on the Ward Valley report, recently released by the National Research Council, is misleading. The editorial ignores the report’s principal finding that contamination of either ground water or the Colorado River by the proposed Ward Valley low-level radioactive waste disposal facility is “highly unlikely.”

The hospital, university, utility and high-technology industry members of Cal Rad Forum are the potential customers for the Ward Valley disposal facility.

The pie diagram featured in your editorial, taken from a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) report, is the basis for the claim that most of the wastes to be disposed at Ward Valley originate at utilities. Not true. The Times errs by relying on disposal data for a year (1993) when most waste generators chose to put their waste into storage rather than ship it for disposal. In 1992, almost 113,000 cubic feet of low-level waste were shipped from California for disposal. The average annual volume of waste shipped for disposal from California during the five years 1988-1992 was over 88,000 cubic feet. The chart reflects disposal of only about 20,000 cubic feet of waste shipped from California in 1993. Where is the missing waste? It’s in storage at hundreds of businesses, university campuses and medical centers throughout the state.

It is important to note that DOE’s “medical” category includes waste generated at hospitals but not medically-related waste from university laboratories or medical centers. These wastes are listed in the “academic” category--not even included in the pie chart. Waste from pharmaceutical companies and biomedical firms is reported in the “industrial” category.

The wastes to be disposed of at Ward Valley are the same kinds of wastes that Nevada and Washington have safely disposed of for us for 30 years.

ALAN PASTERNAK, Ph.D.

Technical Director, Cal Rad Forum

Lafayette, Calif.

* I am writing to correct several serious errors of fact in your editorial.

The editorial mischaracterizes the current debate over whether radioactive tritium (present in the atmosphere due to bomb testing in the 1950s) can now be found deep in the subsurface at Ward Valley. Such a finding might indicate that downward water flow has occurred at that site. Although the editorial attempts to paint a picture of a divided committee, in fact the members were unanimous in concluding that the tritium tests should be redone in a more rigorous, scientific way. Fifteen of the 17 committee members believed that the tritium sampling was so poorly done, and the results so out of keeping with other data that indicated no downward migration of water at the site, that the results were unlikely to be replicated. As a result they concluded that downward water movement is “highly unlikely.” Two other members, who felt less certain about the accuracy of this tritium data, were unwilling to draw any conclusions about water movement in the absence of further tests, although they agreed with the majority on most of the other issues examined in the report.

Finally, I must re-emphasize that we were asked only to assess seven specific technical issues about the site. Our report does not draw any conclusions, nor make any statement, about whether the Ward Valley site should be approved for low-level waste disposal.

E. WILLIAM COLGLAZIER

Executive Director, National

Research Council, Washington

* As someone old enough to remember when the atom was the smallest particle and Saturn had three rings, I had to laugh at the scientists who presume to assure us that the radioactive waste at Ward Valley will be safe for the 10,000-year life span of the most toxic elements of waste. It’s also reassuring to know that the parameters for this dump are so well-defined. The EIR by the state based its findings on a total amount of radioactivity of 0.45 curies, while the state’s licensing application indicates totals closer to 3,500 curies (June 1).

What is known about the effects of radioactivity on humans is frightening, but what is unknown should make us think again before committing ourselves for the next 10 millennium.

BRYAN HAYS

Saugus