Livermore Decides Not To Blow Its Stack
In a decision hailed by environmentalists, Lawrence Livermore National Lab announced it wants to cancel construction of an on-site incinerator whose stack would have emitted small amounts of radioactivity. But Director John Nuckolls' proposal to go ahead with the rest of what is known as a Decontamination and Waste Treatment Facility is likely to embroil the lab in another lengthy round of regulatory agency battles. The incinerator was part of a plan to replace the lab's existing waste management operations. Without it, the lab is left without an approved long-term alternative plan for disposal of mixed waste (waste containing toxic and radioactive materials).
A spokesman for the Department of Energy, which must approve the plan, makes clear that "the final decision will be made using an overall DOE waste management strategy." But he says that the department "welcomes the input" of the internal ...
