Feds offer to speed cleanup of SC's deadly nuclear waste. But plan isn't that simple
COLUMBIA -- The U.S. Department of Energy is proposing to ship what has long been considered some of the world’s most deadly nuclear waste from South Carolina to burial grounds in the western United States under a plan to reclassify some of the atomic refuse as less dangerous.
According to plans, the energy department would classify some of the Savannah River Site’s high-level waste as low-level waste, a type of atomic refuse that is considered less toxic. That, in turn, would allow the material to be shipped to low-level nuclear waste disposal sites in the deserts of Utah and Texas.
“We want to look at taking the waste stream in South Carolina and reclassifying it and moving it out of state,’’ said Paul Dabbar, the energy department’s undersecretary for science.
As it stands, the country does not have a high-level waste burial ground, meaning SRS must keep the deadly waste at the Aiken area weapons complex indefinitely.
Read more: https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article231181298.html