6-12, 1987, Michigan Citizen
ioactive wa e
Ie for s a e
By i II Bj n e
Capital News Service
LA I G - Michigan is
closer than ever before to gel a
10 -level radioactive waste site
with nuclear waste disposal
from six other states.
The House Committee on
Con ervation and Environment
recently pa es to the House
three bills, p ed by the Senate,
which would nullify current
state laws banning the storage of
nuclear waste in Michigan.
With Michigan s large
amount of precipitation and
th lar est b dies f fresh water
in the w rld it should b the la t
place ira which to di. pose of
nuel ar wa. t cs , aid Mary
'inclair, an active member of the
oalition f r a Responsible
Radioa live Waste Policy.
inclair aid the proposed
plan is illegal and may cause
great harm and danger because
of th threat of leakage of
nuclear waste into the Great
Lake.
"It can place us (Michigan) ill
enviro mental and economic
trouble," he said.
Ther i. not enough nuclear
wa te for more than two or three
dump. it, in the U.., inclair
.. id. The federal government
ho uld top pushing to get
. everal disp . al ites scattered
around the country, she con­
tended.
It was the Midwest Interstate
Low Level Radioactive Waste
Compact Commi sion consist­
ing of Michgian, Wisconsin,
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mis­
souri, and Minnesota that desig­
nated Michigan as the host state
for the compact's dispo al site.
Michigan was chosen be­
cause, according to a survey, it
generates the highest level of
radioactive waste among the six
states. Still, the Midwest only
produces 2 percent of the
radioactive wa te nationwide,
Sinclair said.
Several environment I
groups want Mi higan to brea
from the ev n- tate-coalition
and join other" O-It- In"
tate whi h h v left liti
for imilar re n.
Michi n h uld hav t rn-
p r ry '- n und tor: at
urr nt nu I' r p. w r pi nt
ite C r i hi n ( nl , . id
Lansin b in hu '
Will m m r
Re pon i I
Policy.
en ar lone we hav
more control of wh re, how and
how much to dump," he added.
The di po al site, if the
propo ed ne law pass through
the House, will probably be
placed omewhere al ng Inter-
tate-94, clo e to the Indiana
b rder. But n thing is decided
yet.
"This legi lation could make
or bre k Michgian's future,"
Will aid.
inclair said she feel the
Michigan is sacrificing on a fatal
issue in an attempt to make the
Midwe t compact work.
The three bills, passed by the
Senate in October, all involve
how to best protect the environ­
ment if Michigan gets a low­
level nuclear waste storage.
Senate Bill 65, sponsored by
en. John D. Cherry Jr., D-CIio,
ask for interstate compacts and
agreements, a low-level radioac­
tive waste compact and estab­
lishing a waste management sy -
tern including a common law for
where and h w the wa te hould
be handled.
Senate Bill 66, also intro-
, duced by Cherry, asks for inter­
state compacts and agreements,
a low-level radioactive waste
compact and mak s existing law
regarding torage and dispo al
of wast consi. tent with the in­
ter tate compact.
ie
Senate Bill 2 7, intr du ed
by Cherry and Vern n J. Ehler
R-Grand Rapid, involve en­
vironmental pr tection from
radioactive waste and would
create a low-level radioactive
waste authority and define it
duties.
According to the coalition
for a Re ponsible uclear
Waste Policy, the proposed
waste dump is not low level b -
cause 80 percent of its radi ac­
tivity is from high-level waste .
This may include material
owned or generated as a result
of any research, development,
testing or production of an
atomic we pon and wa te
c1asssified a naturally occur­
ring or acclerator-produced
radioactive material .
"We are going to fight the
proposed legislation all th \ a
to the end," inclair said.
3
Waste defined
8y i el 8jaana
LA ING - This is how the federal and state government
define low-level radioactive waste.
It means radioactive material that consists of or contains
so-called cia s A, B, or C, radioactive waste. Consideration is
given to the concentration of short-lived radioactive p�rticle
where institutional controls, waste form and disposal
methods art effective compared to the concentration of
longer lived radioactive particles whose potential hazard will
per ist long after such precautions as deeper disposal is not
effective.
Cia. s A is considered to be the least intensive waste clas­
ses at the disposal site. The physical form and characteristics
of class A must meet minimum requirements on waste form
to provide protection of health and safety of per onnel at the
disposal . ite.
Clas: B wa. te mu t meet more rigorou requirements on
wa tc f rm to ensure tability after disp a1. The physical
Corm and characteri tics of class B waste must meet both min­
imum and tability requirements.
Class C waste not only must meet more rigorous require­
ments on waste form to ensure stability but also requires ad­
ditional measures at the disposal facility to protect against in­
dvertent tampering. The physical form and characteristics
of cl waste meet both minimum and stability require-
Conferenc
Black-o - Blae
WA HI II
rt i i nt
n crime In
H I VILLE U A becam D
official tate or Micbigan His­
ton ite on Dec. 1 when Gov.
Jame 8lanchard, William
"Smokey" Robin on, Mayor
Col man Young and Ether
Gordy Edward join d a bo t
or dignitarie to officially
mark th d ignation. Lo­
cated at 2648 W. Grand Blvd.
in 0 troit, th ite m r the
birth of Motown, tarted in
1959 b Berry Gordy with an
00 loan from the Berry
family.
Bill would leach
students to help
ByMarkMa
LANSI G -- Helping hand­
icappers and tutoring fellow stu­
dents soon could be a part of the
curriculum at every Michigan
high chool if state en. J ermor
Hart ha his way.
Hart, D- aginaw, introduced
a bill last week requiring stu­
dents to serve 40 hours of com­
munity service before gradua­
tion.
The bill, which would allow
students to choo e their own
c mmunity activity with school
approval, is modeled after a
program in the Bloomfield Hills
Public chools, said Rhett
Johns n, Hart's admimistrative
assistant.
"We believe it's important
that students be provided with
pr grams that go beyond basic
education," John on said.
The Bloomfield Hills project
has b en accepted well by both
parents and students, he aid.
But turgis Public Schools
uperinlendent Larry Me­
nnell aid another state-eran­
dated program i not what local
di trict need.
"Generally, I think that Lans­
ing hould stay out and leave the
particulars to the individual
school boards," he said. "We've
just recently finished satisfying
our new state math and science
requirements."
Without more details on the
specific makeup McConnell
said it would be difficult to
determine whether such a
program would be beneficial.
"It probably would be more of
a cost With the new people re­
quired to implement the
program," he said. We need to
worry about what is going on
now instead of adding new
things."
Johnson aid he believes
most districts will like the idea of
community service but that
mandating it for every student
by the 1989-90 school year likely
will be controversial.
Gary Doyle, deputy superin­
tendent of Bloomfield Hills
Public chools, said the com­
munity service requirement
drew limited criticism.
Of about 100 calls received at
the high school on the subject,
only about five were negative, he
said.
While community service
had been an elective at Bloom­
field Hills for nine years, the
board of education voted unan­
imously in April to make it part
of the regular curriculum.
"Forty percent of our stu­
dents participated in com­
munity service in the past," he
said. "This will help us reach the
other 60 percent."
OTICE
The Michigan Citizen of­
fices will be closed Wed.,
December 23 at 5 p.m. and re
open Mon., Jan 4 in order
that our employees may enjoy
the holidays with their
families.
.Monday, December 21, 12
noon is the deadline for all
news and as copy for publica­
tion in the December 27 and
January 3 i ues.