There may have been a reason why Former Governor Huntsman was not at the top of the favorite list during the Republican debates. Do inspections by the NRC actually take place on Native American lands? I am not really clear on that?
Nevadans and Utahans living downwind and downstream from nuclear weapons testing, uranium mining, and radioactive waste dumping have suffered immensely during the Nuclear Age. But even in the "nuclear sacrifice zones" of the desert Southwest, it is Native Americans--from Navajo uranium miners to tribal communities targeted with atomic waste dumps-- who have borne the brunt of both the front and back ends of the nuclear fuel cycle.
The tiny Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians Reservation in Utah is targeted for a very big nuclear waste dump. Private Fuel Storage (PFS), a limited liability corporation representing eight powerful nuclear utilities, wants to "temporarily" store 40,000 tons of commercial high-level radioactive waste (nearly the total amount that presently exists in the U.S.) next to the two-dozen tribal members who live on the small reservation....
This is very strange, because the information I was reading dated August 9, 2011 stated Utah had less than 1 metric ton of nuclear waste in it's repository. Odd, isn't it?
Utah to file appeal of nuclear repository ruling (click here)
Critics hail statement of opposition by LDS Church
NIRS is overjoyed to announce (click here) that it has helped defeat the
environmentally racist Private Fuel Storage (PFS) high-level radioactive waste
dump targeted at the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation in Utah.
On Sept. 7, 2006 the U.S. Bureau of Land Management rejected transportation
plans for shipping 44,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from commercial
nuclear reactors across the country to PFS. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs
likewise rejected the lease agreement between the nuclear utility consortium
comprising PFS and the pro-dump, disputed Skull Valley Goshute tribal
chairman Leon Bear.
Although PFS may appeal these rulings, this dump has very likely been
defeated, once and for all, after a bitter decade-long struggle....
The weapons plant was in Rocky Flats, Colorado. It is closed now, but, that
hasn't ended the problems though.
By KEITH SCHNEIDER, Special to The New York Times
Published: September 01, 1989
Published: September 01, 1989
Fulfilling a vow he made in February, Gov. Cecil D. Andrus (click here) has closed Idaho's borders to shipments of radioactive waste from the Government's only plutonium processing plant, a move that could force the plant to halt production early next year.
It is the second time in 10 months that Governor Andrus has banned disposal of radioactive waste produced by the Rocky Flats Plant, 18 miles northwest of Denver, at a temporary dump near Idaho Falls. When the Federal Government agreed in February to clean up the Idaho disposal site, Governor Andrus partially lifted his first ban, which applied to radioactive waste from all nuclear weapons plants, and said the state would accept a limited amount of waste from the Colorado plant until Sept. 1.
Secretary of Energy James D. Watkins has said he will not challenge Governor Andrus's authority to close the border....
This is the picture of Rocky Flats. All these sites have this barren appearance, don't they? Like nothing can live there. Indeed.
February 24, 2012
by Julie M. Rodriquez
16 miles northwest of Denver, CO sits the Rocky Flats site, (click here) formerly home to a plant that produced nuclear weapons from 1952-1989. These operations were shut down for repeated safety violations, which whistleblowers started bringing to the attention of the EPA and FBI in 1987. The extent of the contamination of the site was never revealed publically.
In 1992, Rocky Flats was closed for good following the fall of the Soviet Union. It was added to the EPA’s National Priorities List, and cleanup efforts began. In 2000, Congress proposed that the site be transformed into a wildlife refuge. The cleanup was declared complete in 2005, although the levels of present contamination were not shown to the public.
The site has come under scrutiny again, as efforts are being made to build a new highway along the eastern edge of the refuge. The EPA and Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment insist that the site is safe, and that construction won’t pose a health risk to workers or surrounding communities. Those living in the area aren’t so sure, especially because no new testing was planned in advance of the construction....
