September 28, 1999  Durham, NC

I would like to begin by expressing my appreciation for the courage and determination displayed by North Carolina's two Southeast Compact Commission members, Representative George Miller and former Director of the Division of Radiation Protection Dayne Brown.  They have resisted the threats and coercive tactics employed the Southeast Compact to force a radioactive dump on Wake County.

My remarks today will center on three areas: radioactive medical waste, health risks and costs of centralized storage, and state of liability for radioactive wastes.

Radioactive Medical Waste

Medical X-rays for diagnosis are generated by electrical machines which use no radioactive substance--no radioactive waste by-product is produced. Linear accelerators and betatrons, used for medical therapy, similarly produce no radioactive waste.

In procedures using radioactive substances, four-fifths of the hospitals in the United States use technetium-99m for about 90% of their diagnostic procedures (from Radioactive Waste: The Medical Factor by Minard Hamilton).  Tech 99m has a half-life of six hours and after five days of storage its radioactivity is reduced to one millionth (1x10-6) of its original level.

Our two year study of all DRP permits issued to North Carolina low-level radioactive waste generators revealed that of the 97 medical institutions in North Carolina with one or more licenses for radioactive materials, few shipped waste off-site.  For example, in 1991 Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill eliminated 436 cubic feet of radioactive medical waste by storing it on-site until no detectable radioactivity was present.  Only 5 cubic feet remained to be shipped off-site, 1% of the original volume.

Risks and Costs of Centralized Storage

The risk to public health and safety have been and remain the primary concern of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League since we first raised objections to the Southeast Compact's centralized low-level radioactive waste storage project in 1985.  All centralized storage projects share a common flaw: transportation risks.

In his 1995 study done for Chatham County, "Low-Level Waste Transportation in North Carolina,"  Dr. Marvin Resnikoff states:

Transportation of radioactive waste is risky.  Accidents can and have released radioactive materials.  Even under incident-free transport, radiation streams through waste containers, exposing the public along transportation routes.

Dr. Alice Stewart, the British epidemiologist who has studied radiation health effects for over 30 years, said, 

"You cant just dump it in the ocean or anywhere else and hope that as long as it comes off slowly to imitate background radiation there's no effect.  Because if you increase the world level of background radiation, mutations and cancer deaths will increase astronomically."

Centralized storage, even for decay-in-storage, introduces new risks to the radioactive waste problem.  The risks of transport are borne by those who live near public thoroughfares where radiation risk is not anticipated and, therefore, people are not prepared.  Decentralized storage is what we have now in North Carolina and it appears to be working.

North Carolina spent $30 million of taxpayer's money, and the Southeast Compact invested $80 million.  Last week a new federal report criticizing the interstate compact system puts the national total at $600 million spent on low-level radioactive dumps since 1980.  The US Government Accounting Office reported that in two decades 10 interstate compacts were formed and no dumps have opened.  Centralized storage should be pursued no further.

State Liability For Federally Regulated Facilities

In June 1992 the Supreme Court decision in New York v. United States relieved the states and their taxpayers from the burden of managing the waste from nuclear power plants, which are the responsibility of the federal government.  Since withdrawing from the Southeast Compact, North Carolina has the undisputed option to choose a course of action which plans for and manages only hospital wastes, research wastes, and industrial wastes from state licensees.

The Supreme Court is clear in its 6-3 decision:

(g) Because the Act's take title provision offers the States a "choice" between two unconstitutionally coercive alternatives--either accepting ownership of waste or regulating according to Congress' instructions--the provision lies outside Congress' enumerated powers and is inconsistent with the Tenth Amendment.

Because the NC Division of Radiation Protection and the NC RPC have no control over the activities at the Duke Power and Carolina Power & Light nuclear stations, it is only reasonable that the commission exclude these wastes from a state waste management plan.


Louis Zeller
9/28/99

BLUE RIDGE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE LEAGUE
PO Box 88  ~ Glendale Springs, North Carolina  28629     ~     Phone
(336) 982-2691 ~ Fax  (336) 982-2954 ~ Email:   BREDL@skybest.com
www.bredl.org