Tri-Valley CAREs October, 1997

Citizen's Watch...

Lab Hazardous Waste Permit: Your Comment Letter is Needed

A public hearing was held by the California Dept. of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) on October 9 on Lawrence Livermore National Lab's (LLNL) application for a permit to operate a hazardous Waste Treatment and Storage Facility (WTSF).

The hearing, a legally-required part of the permitting process, was poorly publicized by DTSC and only drew about 15 people, mostly Tri-Valley CAREs members. Formal comments were made at the meeting by Marylia Kelley, Sally Light, Ed Rippy, Janis Kate, Marion Fulk, JoAnn Frisch, Vern Brechin and Phyllis Olin. Written comments received by DTSC before December 9 will be considered by the state as it decides what action to take, so please read on.

All the speakers opposed the permit. Marylia spoke on the Lab's long history of spills, accidents, airborne pollution, groundwater contamination (LLNL is a Superfund site), violation of environmental laws and last month's discovery of unauthorized buried hazardous waste at the NIF construction site, all of which raise serious questions about Lab practices which must be dealt with by DTSC. She urged DTSC to conduct a rigorous Environmental Impact Report (EIR) before making any final decision.

Sally detailed several of the many problems with LLNL's permit application, as well as some of the inadequacies found in DTSC's analysis, called an Initial Study, and she challenged DTSC's finding that the WTSF as proposed could not significantly impact the environment. Marion urged DTSC not to rely on secondhand information,

but to "do its own homework" in investigating such things as HEPA filters used at the Lab. He also urged DTSC to survey background radiation around the Lab.

Janis asked an EIR be done, and she protested the cutbacks in funding for environmental cleanup while new funding is being considered for the WTSF and other Lab projects that may contribute to future contamination. JoAnn eloquently reminded state officials that they have the power to protect "our children and our children's children," and that DTSC should not "whitewash" the Lab's problems by rewarding bad behavior with a permit.

Ed demanded DTSC look at issues such as the plutonium found in Big Trees Park (near the Lab and next to a school). Vern focused on cumulative environmental impacts at LLNL, and how the WTSF permit, as written, could add to that problem. Phyllis pointed out inadequacies in the state's analysis and joked that "...perhaps the world won't end with a bang or a whimper. Perhaps it will end with a Neg Dec." A Negative Declaration, such as DTSC plans to issue the Lab,

means that the state says "no significant impacts" could possibly occur at this facility!

LLNL generates more than 300,000 gallons per year of liquid hazardous and mixed (radioactive and chemical) wastes and 500,000 pounds per year of solid hazardous and mixes wastes. Too, LLNL produces significant amounts of radioactive waste not covered by the permit because the Dept. of Energythe parent agency "regulates" the Lab's rad wastes.

In view of LLNL's history of accidents, spills, releases, legal violations, pollution and groundwater contamination, Tri-Valley CAREs strongly advocates that DTSC not issue the Lab a permit at this time. Instead, an EIR should be done on LLNL's Main Site and Site 300 in order to provide a detailed and comprehensive analysis of potential hazards and preferable, environmentally-friendly alternatives before any final decision on the Lab's permit aplication is made by the state. Adding to the urgent need for an EIR, the Lab's prior environmental review was inadequate, was done by the Dept. of Energy and not an independent agency, and is nearly six years old and hopelessly out-of-date.

Please write a letter today. If you would like further information, call us for a free copy of our very readable six-page fact sheet with "talking points". Thank you.

Send comments by Dec. 9 to:

James Stettler, permit writer

CA State DTSC, Region 2

700 Heinz Ave., Suite 300

Berkeley, CA 94710

Tri-Valley CAREs u 5720 East Avenue #116 u Livermore, CA 94550 u (510) 443-7148 (510) 449-6603

2 Print Bites: All the News That Fits to Print

2 Bay Area gov'ts just say no. Contra Costa County and the City of Concord voted to join forces and sue the Dept. of Energy over its plans to ship irradiated nuclear fuel rods through the Concord Naval Weapons Station. The DOE failed to adequately analyze the risks of transporting the 38 casks full of rods and did not seriously consider alternatives to its proposal, says Rick Doyle, Concord's City Attorney. (Sound familiar? At least DOE is consistent.)

2 Bay Area Reps say moratorium. Congressional Representatives Ellen Tauscher and George Miller have requested that the Transportation Dept. investigate the safety of the railroad tracks designated to carry the nuclear rods from Concord to Idaho, and that DOE halt its plans for those shipments pending the results of the study. A recent spate of train derailments near Concord prompted their call. Three trains have derailed in the past four months, with eight such accidents occurring in Contra Costa County over the past eight years.

2 Pollution today. On October 2, Livermore Lab received yet another notice of violation from the City of Livermore for exceeding its discharge limits and sending mercury-laden water into the City sewer system. This is the 15th such violation by the Lab in about as many months. (See article on page one on our request for a thorough review of all of Livermore Lab's hazardous waste practices.)

2 Funding today for pollution tomorrow. The Fiscal Year 1998 budget passed the House and Senate with the $229 million that Livermore Lab requested for the National Ignition Facility. Too, the budget includes a provision to allow the U.S. Enrichment Corporation to transfer $60 million to the DOE to continue funding the Uranium-Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation demonstration plantin order to work the bugs out of this technique to produce nuclear fuel at Livermore Lab. The funds needed to clean up existing contamination at the Lab fell precipitously to less than $19 million for the coming year.

2 Lab fired up. Livermore announced a September 21 blaze in the generator of the Large Optics Diamond Turning Machine Facility, caused by a pipe coming into contact with roofing material. About $10,000 worth of damage was done.

2 UC not responsible. The University of California will be exempt from penalties for accidents involving radiation at the labs it managesLivermore, Berkeley and Los Alamos. Under guidelines announced this month, managers of DOE's labs can be fined as much as $110,000 per day for breaking nuclear safety regulations. Nonprofit organizations are exempt, however, so UC is completely off the hook. The regents of the University and DOE just completed new 5-year management contracts for the three labs.

2 Fallout. During the 1950s Kodak found that fallout was fogging its film, and threatened to sue. To forestall this, the gov'twhile telling the public there was no harm from radiation due to the testsgave Kodak and other film companies warnings prior to detonations in order to protect their film products, according to information compiled by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.

2 Rad kills. In a study linking radiation exposure and cancer at the DOE's Santa Susana facility near Los Angeles, researchers found nearly a third of nuclear workers who have died since being exposed to doses of radiation considered "safe" by the gov't died from cancer. These findings were 6 to 8 times higher than expected from the dose levels.

Second Subcritical Test

HOLOG, designed by Livermore Lab, was detonated on September 18. It did not produce a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, thus the term, "subcritical." However, it did establish underground nuclear experiments, blasting high explosives together with plutonium-239, as a norm under the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Other nations will certainly follow suit.

According to the Washington Post, the Russians were preparing a subcritical test on Novaya Zemlya, and the increased activity at the island test site complicated verification of whether the seismic event that had occurred in the general area was an earthquake or a nuclear "break out" of the testing moratorium. This is but one example of the unacceptably high international political costs of subcritical nuclear testing.

In 1996, the U.S. signed the CTBT, committing "not to carry out any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion..." The CTBT does not define a nuclear test, but is understood to ban nuclear blasts with measurable yields. DOE says the subcriticals are allowed under the CTBT and are necessary to maintain the "safety and reliability" of the arsenal. However, the 1996 "Green Book," kept secret by DOE until the lawsuit by we 39 plaintiffs resulted in the release of its unclassified version, states that the primary purpose of the subcritical test program is "to provide data for nuclear design laboratory programs."

Subcritical tests are part of the far-flung "Stockpile Stewardship" program, intended to maintain and expand all current U.S. nuclear weapons capabilities well into the 21st century. The U.S. now plans to invest $60 billion in the program over 13 years.

We call for cancellation of Stockpile Stewardship, including the 4 subcritical tests for 1998.

2.............................................Tri-Valley CAREs Citizen's Watch

Citizen's Alerts ,

items include an orientation for new members, along with program and financial reports.

Wednesday, November 5

Livermore Conversion Project

Livermore Enviro Peace Alliance

7 PM (LCP) and

7:30 PM joint LCP-LEPA meeting

1212 Broadway, Downtown Oakland

(510) 832-4347 or (510) 652-5766

BART accessible meeting place for Bay Area activists and groups working together on issues of nuclear weapons and conversion of the labs.

Wednesday, November 12

Tri-Valley CAREs mailing party

7 PM, Stephanie's house

8301 Mulberry Pl., Dublin

(510) 829-6939 for directions

Looking for an easy way to help your local peace and environmental group? Come and help us affix labels on next month's Citizen's Watch.

For Vision & Treaty

Saturday, October 18

Community Speak-Out

9:30 AM, North Gate - UCB

Hearst Ave. at Euclid, Berkeley

(510) 843-2152 for details

While Lawrence Berkeley Lab holds its "open house," join community leaders in speaking out against continued tritium contamination, new nuclear weapons research and expansion of radioactive and hazardous waste storage at the Berkeley Lab.

Saturday, October 18

Action for Jobs - Oakland

11:30 AM, Assemble Broadway & 14th

1 PM, Rally at Jack London Sq.

(510) 436-6866 for details

At this national day of action, folks will call on Congress to pass HR 950 (the Martinez Emergency Jobs Bill) to restore our cities, schools, hospitals, parks, bridges and environment.

Thursday, October 23

Tri-Valley CAREs meets

7:30 PM, Livermore Library

1000 So. Livermore Ave.

(510) 443-7148 for details

Wanted: More good folks to donate a few hours this month to help eliminate nuclear weapons, end all R & D on new nuclear weapon designs and safeguard our communities from toxic waste. Come to a TVC meeting. We will discuss the Livermore Lab's draft hazardous and radioactive waste treatment and storage permit, and provide a fact sheet to help you prepare comments. We will also have all the latest on the Dept. of Energy, Congress and Livermore Lab.

Monday, November 3

Tri-Valley CAREs Board Meeting

7 PM, Janis Kate's house

749 Hazel St., Livermore

(510) 443-4372 for details

Tentative date for the first quarterly meeting of our new Board. Agenda

One year after he signed it, President Clinton sent the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to the Senate for ratification on September 22. Troubling is the letter he sent with the CTBT, for it undermines the comprehensive intent of the Treaty, touts the overblown "Stockpile Stewardship" program and emphasizes a change in the way the U.S. certifies the "safety" and "reliability" of its arsenalto give the Livermore and Los Alamos Labs nearly unlimited authority and thus a stranglehold on the nation's checkbook.

Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) greeted the CTBT's arrival in his Foreign Relations Committee with a yawn. It will not come up for a vote this year, he said, and maybe not next year either.

For the peace movement, this presents a situation of challenge and opportunity. Our task must be one of articulating the vision embodied in the CTBTmoving toward nuclear disarmament and constraining the DOE to a program of "curatorship" for the U.S. arsenal, whereby it is kept under safe conditions but adding new designs and military capabilities are foresworn. Our consistent message, put on the table with decision-makers and espoused in our communities, must be, "CTBT yes, Stockpile Stewardship no."

Underscoring the need for consistent action by peace advocates, Administration officials and Senator Pete Dominici (R-NM) announced recently that the price tag for so-called Stockpile Stewardship had risen again. Instead of the $40 billion worth of new nuclear weapons technologies over 10 years promised to the labs in 1995, taxpayers would now be expected to ante up $60 billion over 13 years.

At $4.5 billion a year and likely to soar higher still, these obscene expenditures are to satisfy the desires of the weaponeers, not to caretake the arsenal. Economists in early 1996 estimated the cost of a bare-bones maintenance program for U.S. weapons at about $100 million per year.

On this dayall across the nationactivists will challenge the conventional "wisdom" that the military is a positive influence on our youth and society.

Locally, we will contribute to this event by writing letters to Livermore teachers asking them to consider what their school could do with just one day of Pentagon spending $1,007,000,000.00 We will ask the teachers to call Clinton to protest nukes and other military spending.

Want to participate? Roxanne, our new intern, needs volunteers to help prepare the mailing. And, do call Clinton at (202) 456-1111.

Tri-Valley CAREs Citizen's Watch.............................................3

NIF Back in Court After Construction Finds Major Dump

The coalition of 39 groups seeking to enforce our country's National Environmental Policy Act went back into court last month, asking U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Sporkin to order safety measures and further environmental investigation at the construction site of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) after a backhoe busted into a large unlicensed, undocumented toxic waste dump at Livermore Lab.

Crews digging the football arena-sized construction pit for the nuclear weapon program's megalaser facility uncovered more than one hundred two foot-by-two foot capacitors containing carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, chromium, mercury and molybdenum. Additionally, they found a total of 75 crushed waste drums marked "radioactive." (See also the September 1997 Citizen's Watch.)

Undocumented, buried wastes could represent a danger to construction workers if they are unearthed by a backhoe, as happened with the PCB-laden capacitors. And, if they remain undiscovered underground, wastes could continue to migrate through the environment, posing a long-term risk to workers and the environment. So, obtaining a thorough investigation of the area in and around the NIF construction site is a priority of this latest legal action.

Evidence gathered by Tri-Valley CAREs and presented to the Courtincluding maps and reportsshows conclusively that the Dept. of Energy (DOE) had been aware that wastes may have been buried under the NIF site over the course of several decades.

Yet DOE did not disclose or analyze these risks in the NIF Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). That EIS is part of the Programmatic EIS on DOE's Stockpile Stewardship and Management program, and a focus of the overall lawsuit. Further, it appears possible, even likely, that more toxic wastes could be hidden underground, like ticking time bombs, in the area.

As outlined in our Motion currently before the Court, during excavation in 1984, the Lab uncovered an unregulated, old landfill containing both toxic and radioactive wastes. That dump

site, called the East Traffic Circle area, is a scant 200 feet away from the newly unearthed toxic wastes under the NIF site. Moreover, only another 200 or so feet south of the East Traffic Circle dump, Livermore Lab discovered a third undocumented waste dump.

In addition to uncovering buried hazardous wastes, we have also recently discovered that the area to be excavated for the NIF will come within five feet of a contaminated groundwater aquifer that lies under the Livermore site. The Laboratory has obtained a dewatering permit to pump water from under the excavation in the event the construction crew digs into the polluted aquifer. These events provide compelling additional evidence to support our claim that DOE violated the law by failing to take a "hard look" at the environmental impacts of NIF.

The continued excavation of a three-story deep hole without further analysis and disclosure of potential groundwater impacts poses a threat to workers as well as a risk of interfering with the complex groundwater cleanup program now underway at the Lab.

In 1987, the Lab's main site, where NIF is being built, was placed on the EPA's Superfund list of worst polluted sites in the nation. The Lab's site 300 was added to that list in 1990. Stay tuned!

Non Profit Organization

US Postage Paid

Permit #214

Livermore, CA

Tri-Valley CAREs

Citizens Against a Radioactive Environment

5720 East Ave., #116, Livermore, CA 94550

Phone: (510) 443-7148 or (510) 449-6603

Fax: (510) 443-0177 Email: marylia@igc.apc.org

Change Service Requested

Edited by Marylia Kelley

& JoAnn Frisch.

Marylia Kelley

& Sally Light,

contributors.