36 states have nowhere to dump low-level radioactive material

Since last summer, 36 states have had nowhere to dump the radioactively tainted metal, material and products that have come to light within their borders.
In July, a waste site in Barnwell, S.C. -- which served two-thirds of the country as the burial place for material contaminated with low-level radioactivity -- shut its doors after battling neighborhood opposition for years.
With no disposal site for most states -- including California, Texas, Florida and New York -- castoff radioactive material is piling up at factories and, in turn, increasingly getting lost, said John Williamson, administrator of Florida's Bureau of Radiation Control.
"It's not a good situation," said Julia Whitworth, program manager for the federal government's main radioactive-material recovery effort, the U.S. Department of Energy's Off-Site Source Recovery Project.
The contaminated material includes factory measuring sensors, specialized medical equipment, and even pacemakers, which all use small amounts of radioactive isotopes in their operation. These tools and devices can be left behind when a factory closes or simply discarded as scrap.
This castoff radioactive material then can find its way into the recycling stream, where it can be blended with other scrap, creating recycled metal that poses potential health and environmental hazards.
Barnwell's closure has also affected non-governmental radiation-cleanup efforts. For-profit radioactivity brokers had helped businesses and metal recyclers dispose of material. But they have stopped accepting the waste because they have nowhere to dump the stuff, Whitworth said.

States without a disposal site for material tainted with low-level radioactivity:

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Source: "Low-Level Radioactive Waste: Status of Disposal Availability in the United States and Other Countries," 2008 Statement of Gene Aloise, Director of Natural Resources and Environment for the Government Accountability Office.
E-mail Isaac Wolf at wolfi(at)shns.com

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
Recycled Radiation