HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES-1995-051 Resolution of the Orange County Board of Commissioners Opposing the Siting of a Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility at the Wake/Chatham County Site Res-1 R 95- DSI ✓-4
RESOLUTION OF THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
OPPOSING
THE SITING OF A RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL FACILITY
AT THE
WAKE/CHATHAM COUNTY SITE
WHEREAS, a site located on the Wake County side of the border of Wake and Chatham Counties is
under consideration for use as a "low-level" radioactive waste disposal facility and a license application
to establish and operate a facility at that site has been submitted by Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc.; and
WHEREAS,citizens and local elected officials of Chatham, Wake and Orange Counties have serious
concerns regarding the potential negative impacts of utilizing this particular site for a waste disposal
facility and have closely monitored the process of developing sitestudies,waste handling and
transportation plans, as well as the licensing review process; and
WHEREAS,consultants who are not under contract to Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc. butwho are
experts in low-level radioactive waste generation, disposal and regulation, hydrogeology and other
fields germane to this siting and licensing process have found that the proposed site is not optimal for
burial of wastes and that its proposed capacity is far greater than necessary to contain- as initially
intended-the low-level radioactive waste generated in twenty years by the Southeast Compact states;
and
WHEREAS,the proposed site does not, in the expert opinion of many consultants and state regulators,
meet licensing requirements that will provide reasonable assurances that the health, safety and welfare
of the citizens of the region will be adequately safeguarded; and
WHEREAS,the continued investigation and consideration of this site will result in the expenditure of
enormous sums of public funds;
NOW,THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Orange County Board of Commissioners that the
Board opposes the continued consideration,under the current matrix of site suitability and use parameters,
of the Wake/Chatham site for a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Board requests that The Honorable Fred Heineman introduce
legislation modifying the federal Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act to provide for: 1) a national
low level waste repository in a location not constrained by ground water concerns or other consequential
environmental factors; 2)the regulatory permissibility of establishing single-state low-level radioactive
waste disposal facilities; and 3)the establishment of standards requiring minimal concentration levels,
volume reduction and waste form stabilization of all radioactive contaminated materials destined for
subsurface disposal.
This the 17th day of October, 1995
Moses Carey, Jr., Chair