CADU - US Government and Military Trying to Wriggle Out of DU Cleanup at National Sites

US Government and Military Trying to Wriggle Out of DU Cleanup at National Sites

The US Government and military is trying to walk away from its commitments to cleanup sites contaminated by DU and other radioactive materials at the Jefferson Proving Ground (JPG), Indiana and Hanford, Washington. The army initially has a decommissioning plan for JPG but now is saying that because of unexploded ordnance, it is too dangerous to send Army workers into the area for decommissioning. However environmental group 'Save the Valley' have put in a hearing request that the regulations governing decommissioning do not provide for an open-ended license with no timetable for decommissioning. If the Army is allowed to not have a plan in place, a precedent could be set for how the same issue is handled at other bases. At Hanford the Department of Energy is attempting to avoid cleanup by redefining more than 3/4 of its most dangerous radioactive wastes as 'incidental'.

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Page last updated: August 12, 2005