Waste storage issue needs resolution
No one likes to feel as though they are abandoned. Yet, that is exactly how a local community group is viewing our federal government and its promise to permanently store high level nuclear waste.
The Savannah River Site Community Reuse Organization is calling the federal government's decision to abandon the long-promised Yucca Mountain site a critical issue for our area. The SRS CRO is an organization with members on both sides of the Savannah River. Its mission is to facilitate economic opportunities associated with SRS technology and missions and to serve as a unified community voice for the region. It is a voice that is crying out for more than empty promises from Washington.
The Obama administration is working to stop more than two decades of work that has gone into identifying Yucca Mountain, Nev., as the place to permanently store high level nuclear waste from the nation's weapons program as well as spent fuel rods from commercial reactors. Exhaustive study has been made and billions of dollars spent in singling out Yucca Mountain for this important role in the nuclear cycle.
Unfortunately, because of the power of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., with the current administration all those plans, all the science and all the money are going down the drain with no other option being offered. Practically speaking; there is another option - leaving the high level waste and spent fuel rods where they currently sit at their respective sites.
That means, for instance, that SRS and its tons of waste that are being turned into glass logs encased in steel canisters will remain at the site until a final destination is determined by the federal government.
This site has been a leader of Department of Energy facilities with regard to community support. Thousands of folks in towns like Ellenton and Dunbarton gave up their homes and their heritage when the Savannah River Plant was announced more than half a century ago. Community leaders have been staunch in putting the good of the country ahead of local desires.
With a feeling of abandonment on the waste storage issue, the CRO believes the community must be made aware.
"The government's about face on this critical issue leaves state and local leaders with more questions than answers," said David Jameson, president of the Aiken Chamber of Commerce and vice chair of the CRO.
It is time for the federal government to begin offering answers about this issue to local residents and government leaders.