Nuke Dump At Sandia: An Indy Scientist Reports

A recently released report seriously questions the safety of a nuclear waste dump, known as the Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL), a contaminated site located at Sandia National Laboratory (SNL).

The report, completed by an internationally recognized expert in radiochemistry, Dr. Mark Baskaran, professor at Wayne State University, Michigan, raises disturbing questions about the quality of work done by SNL’s

Environmental Restoration (ER) program. Dr. Baskaran has concluded that the MWL may already be leaking plutonium, uranium and strontium into Albuquerque’s groundwater.

Dr. Baskaran com-pleted his review of the MWL using SNL’s own data. Alarmingly, he concluded that the data quality is extremely poor. It is based on this same data that SNL has assured the public the MWL poses no threat.

Furthermore, DOE/SNL have refused to go back to collect “precision data” to substantiate their claim that groundwater has not been contaminated, as it is “too expensive.”

Since the dump sits above Albuquerque’s sole-source aquifer, the implications of ground-water contamination of this sort are potentially devastating.

Due to the extremely long-lived nature of low-level radioactive waste (thousands upon thousands of years), if this nuclear waste dump is leaking now — or at a future date — releasing radioactive contaminants into our aquifer, Albuquerque will be faced with a serious public health threat.

However, the Department of Energy and SNL has consistently downplayed the hazards of low level radioactive waste, the majority of the waste buried in the landfill, stating that when the “hotter” radioactive debris such as Cobalt-60 decays to baseline levels in a decade or so the landfill will be harmless.

This is misleading the public. In the case of the MWL the low-level waste buried in unlined pits and trenches poses an even greater health hazard than the “hotter” debris in that it will be hazardous for centuries.

Radiation is not the only concern; in addition to radiation there is a chemical toxicity associated with some of the low-level waste, such as depleted uranium. Low-level radioactive waste has been associated with cancers, childhood leukemias, kidney failure, and other illnesses.

Other misleading statements continue to be made by SNL, such as if all the contaminants buried in the dump leaked into the ground today it would not pose a major threat.

Perhaps. However, this simplistic statement is based upon current climate conditions, considering you know everything that’s buried in the MWL. It does not address future climate changes, future policy, and future economics.

It does not address the effects of various levels of radioactive mixed waste on human bodies of varying ages and immune systems, and in combination with other contaminants that have found their way into our sole-source aquifer such as jet fuel, solvents (TCE), and other industrial and agricultural pollutants.

Another statement by SNL, that “rocks and soil tend to filter stuff out” may sound good, but we’re not trying to compost this stuff. Rocks and soil don’t filter out radioactive debris. If this were the case we would have a permanent solution to the prob-lem of DOE hazardous waste sites across the nation.

The Department of Energy (DOE) and SNL are proposing that this nuclear waste dump be covered in soil and left as is. DOE/SNL has promised that they will monitor the dump for 70 years, and if they detect evidence that it is leaking then they do something about it. This they call “stewardship.”

“Stewardship” itself has recently come under fire by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). In a recently released report commissioned by the DOE the NAS has seriously questioned the ability of the DOE to ensure the public’s safety from waste generated by decades of nuclear weapons production.

Specifically, it calls into question “stewardship” of contaminated sites con-taining “radiological and non- radiological wastes [that] will remain, posing risks to humans and the environment for tens or even hundreds of thousands of years.”

The report states controls are already breaking down at many DOE “stewardship” sites, and cites the Los Alamos fire as one example where monsoon rains could contaminate the Rio Grande with radioactive and chemical toxins from the weapons laboratory. In the case of the MWL, “stewardship” is a crime waiting to happen, contingent on approval from the New Mexico Environment Department.

There has been little public involvement in this process. “Stewardship” of contaminated sites at SNL has been implemented in a top-down manner by DOE/SNL without giving members of the public, communities in the South Valley or Isleta Pueblo an opportunity to participate in “stewardship” decision-making.

Citizen Action to Clean Up Albuquerque’s Nuclear Waste Dump, an independent advocacy group, thinks there is a better way to ensure the safety of the people of Albuquerque. We recommend full cleanup of the MWL now.

The dump is located in an urban area not far from the Pueblo of Isleta, near the Sandia foothills where future development, such as Mesa del Sol, is anticipated.

The MWL does not belong perched above the aquifer in unlined pits and trenches where it can pose a risk to future generations.

Only cleanup of this hazardous waste dump will assure the people of Albuquerque that their children and grandchildren will be safe.