Tritium Waste at Ward Valley
The governor’s demand that California, not the federal government, control the safety testing at the proposed Ward Valley radioactive waste dump (March 15) is somewhat perplexing in light of the fact that the governor has consistently opposed efforts to reduce the amount of tritium waste destined for the site.
Waste tritium has leaked from storage facilities in South Carolina, Washington and Nevada. The leaks in Nevada contaminated the ground water several hundred feet below the dump, which is particularly alarming since that facility is located on the same type of desert terrain as the proposed Ward Valley dump. At Ward Valley, the dump would be located near the Colorado River, where any tritium leak into the ground water could feed directly into the river and devastate a significant portion of the Southern California water supply.
A vast majority of tritium waste is produced during the manufacturing process, and recapturing and recycling that waste is both feasible and economical. Keeping it out of the waste stream to begin with would have made the current debate over whether the feds or the state should do the safety testing at Ward Valley a great deal less important. However, the governor opposed such a preventive step by vetoing AB 3798 in 1992 and AB 1786 in 1993, both of which would have diverted waste tritium away from Ward Valley and required it to be recycled.
DEBRA BOWEN, Chairwoman
Assembly Natural Resources
Committee, D-Marina del Rey
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
